UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
AT LOS ANGELES

THE

COMPLETE WORKS

OF

COUNT RUMFORD.

PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF
ARTS AND SCIENCES.

VOL. III.

BOSTON

1874.

Cambridge :
Press of John Wilson and Son.

.

CONTENTS.

PACK

OF THE MANAGEMENT OF FIRE AND THE ECONOMY OF
FUEL i

[Essay VI.]

ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF KITCHEN FIRE-PLACES AND
KITCHEN UTENSILS ; TOGETHER WITH REMARKS AND OB-
SERVATIONS RELATING TO THE VARIOUS PROCESSES OF

COOKERY, AND PROPOSALS FOR IMPROVING THAT MOST
USEFUL ART 167

[Essay X.]

SUPPLEMENTARY OBSERVATIONS RELATING TO THE MANAGE-
MENT OF FIRES IN CLOSED FIRE-PLACES 489

[Essay XIV.]

3478G9

OF THE MANAGEMENT OF FIRE

THE ECONOMY OF FUEL.

OF THE MANAGEMENT OF FIRE AND
THE ECONOMY OF FUEL.

CHAPTER I.

The Subject of this Essay curious and interesting in a
very high Degree. — All the Comforts, Conveniences,
and Luxuries of Life are procured by the Assistance
of FIRE and of HEAT. — The Waste of Fuel very
great. — Importance of the Economy of Fuel to
Individuals, and to the Public. — Means used for
estimating the Amount of the Waste of Fuel. — An
Account of the Jirst Kitchen of the House of In-
dustry at Munich, and of the Expense of Fuel in
that Kitchen compared with the Quantity consumed
in the Kitchens of private Families. — An Account
of several other Kitchens constructed on various
Principles at Munich, under the Direction of the
Author. — Introduction to a more scientific Investi-
gation of the Subject under Consideration.

NO subject of philosophical inquiry within the
limits of human investigation is more calculated
to excite admiration and to awaken curiosity than fire ;
and there is certainly none more extensively useful
to mankind. It is owing, no doubt, to our being-
acquainted with it from our infancy, that we are not
more struck with its appearance, and more sensible of
the benefits we derive from it. Almost every comfort

4 Of the Management of Fire

and convenience which man by his ingenuity procures
for himself is obtained by its assistance ; and he is not
more distinguished from the brute creation by the use
of speech, than by his power over that wonderful
agent.

Having long been accustomed to consider the
management of heat as a matter of the highest im-
portance to mankind, a habit of attending carefully
to every circumstance relative to this interesting sub-
ject that occasionally came under my observation soon
led me to discover how much this science has been
neglected, and how much room there is for very essen-
tial improvements in almost all those various opera-
tions in which heat is employed for the purposes of
human life.

The great waste of fuel in all countries must be
apparent to the most cursory observer; and the uses
to which fire is employed are so very extensive, and the
expense for fuel makes so considerable an article in the
list of necessaries, that the importance of the subject
cannot be denied.

And with regard to the economy of fuel, it has this
in particular to recommend it, that whatever is saved
by an individual is at the same time a positive saving
to the whole community ; for the less demand there is
for any article in the market, the lower will be its price ;
and as all the subjects of useful industry — all the arts
and manufactures, without exception — depend directly
or indirectly on operations in which fire is necessary,
it is of much importance to a manufacturing and com-
mercial country to keep the price of fuel as low as
possible; and even in countries where there are no
manufactures, and where the inhabitants subsist entirely

and the Economy of Fuel. 5

by agriculture, if wood be used as fuel, — as the propor-
tion of woodland to arable must depend in a great
measure on the consumption of fire-wood, — any saving
of fuel will be attended with a proportional diminution
of the forests reserved for fire -wood, consequently with
an increase of the lands under cultivation, with an in-
crease of inhabitants and of national wealth, strength
and prosperity.

But what renders this subject peculiarly interesting is
the great relief to the poor in all countries, and partic-
ularly in all cold climates, and in all great cities in every
climate, that would result from any considerable dimi-
nution of the price of fuel, or from any simple contriv-
ance by which a smaller quantity of this necessary
article than they now are obliged to employ to make
themselves comfortable might be made to perform the
same services. Those who have never been exposed
to the inclemencies of the seasons — who have never
been eye-witnesses to the sufferings of the poor in their
miserable habitations, pinched with cold and starving
with hunger — can form no idea of the importance to
them of the subject which I propose to treat in this
Essay.

To all those who take pleasure in doing good to man-
kind by promoting useful knowledge, and facilitating
the means of procuring the comforts and conveniencies
of life, these investigations cannot but be very inter-
esting.

Though it is generally acknowledged that there is a
great waste of fuel in all countries, arising from igno-
rance and carelessness in the management of fire, yet
few — very few, I believe — are aware of the real
amount of this waste.

6 Of the Management of Fire

From the result of all my inquiries upon this subject,
I have been led to conclude that not less than seven
eighths of the heat generated, or which with proper
management might be generated, from the fuel actually
consumed, is carried up into the atmosphere with the
smoke, and totally lost. And this opinion has not been
formed hastily ; on the contrary, it is the result, of much
attentive observation, and of many experiments. But
in a matter of so much importance I feel it to be my
duty not merely to give the public my opinions, but to
lay before them the grounds upon which those opinions
have been founded, in order that every one may judge
for himself of the certainty or probability of my deduc-
tions.

It would not be difficult, merely from a consideration
of the nature of heat, — of the manner in which it is
generated in the combustion of fuel, and the manner
in which it exists when generated, — to show that, as
the process of boiling is commonly performed, there
must of necessity be a very great loss of heat ; for when
the vessel, in which the fluid to be boiled is contained,
is placed over an open or naked fire, not only by far the
greater part of the radiant heat is totally lost, but also
of that which exists in the flame, smoke, and hot vapour,
a very small proportion only enters the vessel ; the rest
going off with great rapidity, by the chimney, into the
higher regions of the atmosphere. But, without insist-
ing upon these reasonings (though they are certainly
incontrovertible), I shall endeavour to establish the facts
in question upon still more solid ground, — that of actual
experiment.

In the prosecution of the experiments necessary in
this investigation, I proceeded in the following man-

and the Economy of Fuel. 7

ner: As the quantity of heat which any given quan-
tity of any given kind of fuel is capable of generating
is not known, there is no fixed standard with which the
result of an experiment can be compared, in order to
ascertain exactly the proportion of the heat saved, or
usefully employed, to that lost. Instead therefore of
being able to determine this point directly, I was obliged
to have recourse to approximations. Instead of deter-
mining the quantity of heat lost in any given operation,
I endeavoured to find out with how much less fuel the
same operation might be performed, by a more advan-
tageous arrangement of the fire and disposition of the
machinery : and several extensive public establishments,
which have been erected in Bavaria within these last six
or seven years, under my direction, by order of His Most
Serene Highness, the ELECTOR PALATINE, — particularly
an establishment for the poor of Munich (of which
an account has been given to the public in my First
Essay), and the establishment of a Public Academy
for the education of one hundred and eighty young
men, destined for the service of the State in the differ-
ent civil and military departments, — the economical
arrangements of these establishments afforded me a
most favorable opportunity of putting into practice all
my ideas relative to the management of fire; and of
ascertaining, by numerous experiments made upon a
large scale, and often varied and repeated, the real im-
portance of the improvements I have introduced.

That many experiments have been actually made in
these two establishments, during the seven years they
have existed, will not be doubted by those who are
informed that the kitchen, or rather the fire-place of
the kitchen of the House of Industry, has been pulled

8 Of the Management of Fire

down and built entirely anew no less than three times,
and that of the Military Academy twice, during that
period; and that the forms of the boilers, and the inter-
nal construction of the fire-places, have been changed
still oftener.

The importance of the improvements in the manage-
ment of heat employed in culinary operations, which
have resulted from these investigations, will appear by
comparing the quantity of fuel now actually used in
those kitchens to that consumed in performing the same
operations in kitchens on the common construction.
And this will at the same time show, in a clear and
satisfactory manner, what I proposed to prove, —
namely, that in all the common operations in which
fire is employed there is a' very great waste of fuel.

The waste of fuel in boiling water or any other
liquid over an open fire, in the manner in which that
process is commonly performed, and the great saving of
fuel which will result from a more advantageous dispo-
sition and management of the fire, will be evident from
the results of the following experiments, all of which
were made by myself, and with the utmost care.

Experiment No. i. — A copper boiler belonging to
the kitchen of the Military Academy in Munich, 22
Rhinland inches in diameter above, 19* inches in
diameter below, and 24 inches in depth, and which
weighed 50 Ibs. weight of Bavaria (=61.92 Ibs. Avoir-
dupois), being fixed in its fire-place, was filled with 95
Bavarian measures (=28 English wine-gallons) of
water, which weighed 187 Bavarian pounds (= 232.58
Ibs. Avoirdupois) ; and this water being at the temper-
ature of 58° F., a fire was lighted under the boiler
with dry beech-wood, and the water was made to boil,

and the Economy of Fuel. 9

and was continued boiling two hours. The time em-
ployed and wood consumed in this experiment were as
follows : —

Time employed. Wood consumed.
h. m. Ibs.

To make the water boil . . I
To keep the water boiling ..2

Total

Experiment No. 2. — The same boiler, containing
the same quantity of water at the same temperature,
being now removed to the kitchen of a private gentle-
man in the neighbourhood (Baron de Schwachheim,
a brother of the Commandant of the Academy), and
placed upon a tripod, a quantity of the same kind of
wood used in the former experiment being provided,
a fire was lighted under it by the gentleman's cook
(directions having been given to be as sparing as pos-
sible of fuel), and it was made to boil and continued
boiling two hours,

The result of the experiment was as follows : —

Time employed. Wood consumed.
h. m. Ibs.

To make the water boil . . i 31 45

To keep it boiling .... 2 o iji

Total ....... 3 31 624

As in these two experiments the same boiler was
employed ; as the quantity of water was the same, as
also its temperature at the beginning of the experi-
ments ; and as it was made to continue boiling during
the same length of time, it is evident that the quantities
of wood consumed show the relative advantages of the
different methods employed in the management of the
fire. The difference of these quantities of fuel is very
great (the one being only 13! Ibs. and the other

io Of the Management of Fire

amounting to no less than 62^ Ibs.). And this shows
how very considerable the waste of fuel really is, in the
manner in which it is commonly employed for culinary
purposes, and how important the savings are which may
be made by introducing a more advantageous arrange-
ment for the management of fire. But great as these
savings may appear to be, as shown by the results of
the foregoing experiments, yet they are in fact still
more considerable, as will be abundantly proved in the
sequel. In the Experiment No. 2, in which the boiler
was put over an open fire, great care was taken to
place the fuel in the most advantageous manner; but
in general little attention is paid to that circumstance,
and the waste of fuel is greatly increased by such negli-
gence. But in closed fire-places, upon a good con-
struction, as the proper place for the fuel cannot be
mistaken, and as it is fixed and bounded on all sides
by a wall, the ignorance or inattention of those who
take care of the fire can never be productive of any
great waste of fuel ; and this is an advantage of no
small importance attending these fire-places.

Experiment No. 3. — A large copper sauce-pan or
casserole, \\\ inches in diameter above, lof in diameter
below, and 3! inches deep, containing 4 measures of
water weighing y^jj- Ibs., and at the temperature of 58° F.,
being placed in its closed fire-place, and a fire being
made under it with small pieces of dry beech-wood cut
in lengths of about 4 inches, the water was made to
boil, and was continued boiling two hours.

The result of the experiment was as follows : —

Time employed. Wood consumed.
h. ra. . Ibs.

To make the water boil . . o 12 i

To keep it boiling ....20 of

Total 2 I2 i

and the Economy of FueL 1 1

Experiment No. 4. — The same sauce-pan, contain-
ing the same quantity of water, and at the same tem-
perature as in the last experiment, was now taken from
its proper fire-place, and placed upon a tripod ; and a
fire being made under it with dry beech-wood, the
result of the experiment was as follows: —

Time employed. Wood consumed,
h. m. Ibs.

To make the water boil . . o 28 6

To keep it boiling ....20 5i

Total 2 28 iri

The difference in the results of these two experiments
is nearly the same as that in the results of those before
mentioned, and they all tend to show that, in cooking
or boiling over an open fire, nearly five times as much
fuel is required as when the heat is confined in a closed
fire-place, and its operation properly directed.

But I must again repeat, what I have already observed
with respect to the two former experiments, as the Ex-
periments No. 2 and No. 4 were both made with the
utmost care, the results of them, compared with those
which were made with the same boilers placed in closed
fire-places, can give no adequate idea of the real loss of
heat and waste of fuel which take place in the common
operations of cookery.

From several estimates which I have made with great
care relative to this subject, founded upon the quantity
of fuel actually consumed in the kitchens of several
private families, compared with the quantities of differ-
ent kinds of food prepared for the table, it appears that
at least nine tenths of the wood actually consumed in
common kitchens, where cooking is carried on over an
open fire, might be saved, by introducing the various

1 2 Of the Management of Fire

improvements I have brought into use in the kitchens
which have been constructed under my directions.

But it is not alone in kitchens, in which cooking is
carried on over open fires, that useful alterations may be
made: kitchens with closed fire-places, and indeed all
the kitchens which have yet been contrived (as far as
my knowledge extends), are susceptible of great im-
provement.

The various improvements that may be made in
mechanical arrangements for the economy of fuel will
appear in a striking manner from a detail of the differ-
ent alterations which have from time to time been made
in the kitchen of the House of Industry at Munich,
and in that of the Military Academy, and of the effects
produced by those progressive improvements.

The House of Industry being an establishment of
public charity, and the number of those fed from the
kitchen amounting from 1000 to 1500 persons daily,
the economy of fuel, in a kitchen upon so large a scale,
became an object of serious consideration; and I at-
tended to this matter with peculiar pleasure, as it so
completely coincided with my favorite philosophical
pursuits.

The investigation of heat, and of the laws of its
operations, had long occupied my attention, and I had
been so fortunate, in the course of my experiments upon
that subject, as to make some discoveries which were
thought worthy of being inserted in the Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society of London ; and for
my last paper upon that subject, published in the Trans-
actions for the year 1 792, I had the honour to receive
the annual medal of the Society. I hope my mention-
ing this circumstance will not be attributed to osten-

and the Economy of Fuel. 1 3

tation. My motive in doing it is merely to show that,
when I undertook to make the arrangements of which I
am about to give an account, the subject was by no
means new to me ; but, on the contrary, that I was pre-
pared, and in some measure qualified, for such inves-
tigation.

I conceive it to be the duty of those who propose
useful improvements for the benefit of mankind not
only to merit, but also to do every thing in their power
to obtain the confidence of those to whom their pro-
posals are submitted ; and there appears to me to be a
much greater degree of pride and arrogance displayed
by an author in taking it for granted that the world is
already sufficiently acquainted with his merit and his
qualifications to treat the subject he undertakes to in-
vestigate, than in modestly pointing out the grounds
upon which the confidence of the public in his knowl-
edge of his subject and in his integrity may be
founded.

But to return from this digression. In the first ar-
rangement of the kitchen in the House of Industry at
Munich, which was finished in the beginning of the
year 1790, eight large copper boilers, each capable of
containing about 38 English wine-gallons, were placed
in such a manner in two rows, in a solid mass of brick-
work, 3 feet high, 9 feet wide, and 18 feet long, built
in the middle of the kitchen, that, from a single fire-
place, situated at one end of this brick-work, by means
of canals (furnished with valves or dampers) going from
it through the solid mass of the brick-work to all the
different boilers, these boilers were all heated, and made
to boil with one single fire ; and though none of them
were in actual contact with the fire-place, and some of

!4 Of the Management of Fire

them were distant from it near 15 feet, yet they were all
heated with great facility, and in a short space of time,
•by the heat which, upon opening the valves (which
were of iron), was made to pass through the canals.

Each boiler having its separate canal and its separate
valves, any single boiler, or any number of them, might
be heated at pleasure, without heating the rest ; and by
opening the valves of any boiler more or .less, more or
less heat, as the occasion required, might be made to
pass under the boiler; and when no more heat was
wanting for any of the boilers, or when the fire was too
strong, by opening a particular valve a communication
with a waste canal was formed, by which all the heat, or
any part of it at pleasure, might be made to pass off
directly into the chimney, without going near any of
the boilers.

The fire was regulated by a register in the door of
the ash-pit, by which the air was admitted into the fire-
place ;' and, when no more heat was wanted, the fire was
put out by closing this register entirely, and by closing
at the same time all the valves or dampers in the canals
leading from the fire-place.

The fire-place was of an oval form, 3 feet long, 2 feet
3 inches wide, and about 18 inches high, vaulted above
with a double vault, 4 inches of air being left between
the two vaults; and the fuel was introduced into the
fire-place by a passage closed by a double iron door,
which door was kept constantly shut; and the fuel
was burned upon an iron grate, the air which supplied
the fire coming up from below the grate through the
ash-pit.

The loss of heat in its passage from the fire-place
to the boilers was prevented by making the canals of

and the Economy of Fuel. 1 5

communication double, one within the other ; the inter-
nal canal by which the heat passed, and which was 5
inches wide internally, and 6 inches high, being itself
placed, and, as it were insulated, in a canal still larger,
in such a manner that the canal by which the heat
passed (which was constructed of very thin bricks, or
rather tiles) was surrounded on every side with a wall,
2 inches thick, of confined air. The surrounding canal
being formed in the solid body of the mass of brick-
work, this arrangement of the double canals was en-
tirely concealed. The double canals and the double
vault over the fire-place were intended to serve the same
purpose ; namely, to confine more effectually the heat,
and prevent its escape into the mass of brick-work, and
its consequent loss.

Having found, in the course of my experiments, that
confined air is the best barrier * that can be opposed to
heat, to confine it, I endeavoured to avail myself of that
discovery in these economical arrangements, and my
attempts were not unsuccessful.

Not only the fire-place itself, and the canals of com-
munication between the fire-place and the boilers, were
surrounded by confined air, but it was also made use of
for confining the heat in the boilers, and preventing
its escaping into the atmosphere. This was done by
making the covers of the boilers double. These covers
(see the Figures i and 2, Plate I.) which were made of
tin, or rather of thin iron plates tinned, were in the
form of a hollow cone. The height of the cone was
equal to about one third of its diameter, and the air
which it contained was entirely shut up, the bottom of

* See Philosophical Transactions, 1792, Part I. See also Vol. I., pp. 401
and following.

1 6 Of the Management of Fire

the cone being closed by a circular plate or thin sheet
of tinned iron. The bottom of the cone was accu-
rately fitted to the top of the boiler, which it completely
closed, by means of a rim about 2 inches wide, which
entered the boiler; which rim was soldered to the flat
sheet of tinned iron which formed the bottom of the
cover. The steam generated by the boiling liquid
was carried off by a tube about half an inch in diarn-
eter, which passed through the hollow conical cover,
and which was attached to the cover, both above and
below, with solder, in such a manner that the air with
which the hollow cone was filled remained completely
confined, and cut off from all communications with the
external air of the atmosphere, as well as with the
steam generated in the boiler.

In some of the covers I filled the hollow of the cone
with fur, but I did not find that these were sensibly
better for confining the heat than those in which the
cone was filled simply with air.

To convince the numerous strangers, who from curi-
osity visited this kitchen, of the great advantage of
making use of double covers to confine the heat in the
boilers, instead of using single covers for that purpose,
a single cover was provided, which, as it was externally
of the same form as the others, when it was placed
upon a boiler, could not be distinguished from them ;
but as its bottom was wanting, and consequently there
was no confined air interposed between the hot steam
in the boiler and the external surface of the cover, on
being placed upon a kettle actually boiling, this cover
instantaneously became so exceedingly hot as actually
to burn those who ventured to touch it ; while a double
cover, formed of the same materials, and placed in the

and the Economy of Fuel. 1 7

same situation, was so moderately warm that the naked
hand might be held upon it for any length of time
without the least inconvenience.

As it was easy to conceive that what was so exceed-
ingly hot as to burn the hand in an instant, upon
touching it, could not fail to communicate a great deal
of heat to the cold atmosphere which continually lay
upon it, this experiment showed in a striking and con-
vincing manner the utility of my double covers ; and
I have since had the satisfaction to see them gradually
finding their way into common use.

It is perhaps quite unnecessary that I should inform
my readers that one principal motive which induced
me to take so much pains in the arrangement of this
kitchen was a desire to introduce useful improvements,
relative to the management of heat and the economy
of fuel, into common practice. An establishment so
interesting in all respects, so important in its conse-
quences, and so perfectly new in Bavaria, as a public
House of Industry upon a liberal and extensive plan, —
where almost every trade and manufacture is carried on
under the same roof, where the poor and indigent of
both sexes, and of all ages, find a comfortable asylum,
and employment suited to their strength and to their
talents, and where industry is excited not by punish-
ments, but by the most liberal rewards, and by the
kindest usage, — such an establishment, I thought,
could not fail to excite the curiosity of the public, and
to draw together a great concourse of visitors ; and as
this appeared to me a favourable opportunity to draw
the public attention to useful improvements, all my
measures were taken accordingly; and not only the
kitchen, but also the bake-house, the stoves for heating

1 8 Of the Management of Fire

the rooms, the lamps, the various utensils and machines
made use of in the different manufactories, all the dif-
ferent economical arrangements and contrivances for
facilitating the operations of useful industry, were so
many models expressly made for imitation.

But in the arrangements relative to the economy of
fuel, besides a view to immediate public utility, another
motive, not much less powerful, contributed to induce
me to pay all possible attention to the subject; namely,
a desire to acquire a more thorough knowledge relative
to the nature of heat and of the laws of its operations ;
and with this view several parts were added to the
machinery, which I suspected at the time to be too
complicated to be really useful in common practice.

The steam, for instance, which arose from the boil-
ing liquids, instead of being suffered to escape into the
atmosphere, was carried up by tubes into a room imme-
diately over the kitchen, where it was made to pass
through a spiral worm placed in a large cask full of
cold water, and condensed, giving out its heat to the
water in the .cask ; which water thus warmed, without
any new expense of fuel, was made use of next day,
instead of cold water, for filling the boilers. That this
water, so warmed, might not be cooled during the
night, the cask that contained it was put into another
cask still larger; and the space between the two casks
was rilled with wool. The cooling of the steam, in its
passage from the boiler to the cask where it was con-
densed, was prevented by warm coverings of sheep-
skins with the wool on them, by which the tubes of
communication, which were of tin, were defended from
the cold air of the atmosphere.

By this contrivance, the heat, which would otherwise

and the Economy of Fuel. 19

have been carried off by the steam into the atmosphere
and totally lost, was arrested in its flight, and brought
back into the boiler, and made to work the second
day.

By other contrivances, the smoke also was laid under
contribution. After it had passed under the boilers,
and just as it was about to escape by the chimney,
it was stopped, and, by being made to pass under
a large copper filled with cold water, was deprived of
the greater part of the heat it still retained ; and think-
ing it probable that considerable advantages would
be derived from drying the wood very thoroughly, and
even heating it, before it was made use of for fuel, the
smoke from two of the boilers was made to pass under
a plate of iron which formed the bottom of an oven, in
which the wood, necessary for the consumption of the
kitchen for one day (having previously been cut into
billets of a proper size), was dried during 24 hours, pre-
vious to its being used.

In a smaller kitchen (adjoining to that I have been
describing), which was constructed merely as a model
for imitation, and which was constantly open for the
inspection of the public, five boilers of different sizes,
all heated by the same fire, were placed in a semicir-
cular mass of brick-work, and the smoke, after having
passed under all these five boilers, was made to heat, at
pleasure, either an oven, or water which was contained
in a wooden cask set upright upon the brick-work. A
tube of copper, tinned on the outside, which went
through the cask, gave a passage to the smoke, and this
tube was connected with the bottom of the cask by
means of a circular plate of copper through which the
tube passed, which plate closed a circular opening in

20 Of the Management of Fire

the bottom of the cask somewhat larger in diameter
than the tube.

This circular plate was nailed to the bottom of the
cask, and the joining made water-tight by interposing
between the metallic plate and the wood a sheet of
pasteboard; and the tube was fastened to the plate
with solder. This tube (which was about 6 inches in
diameter), as soon as it had passed the circular plate
and entered the barrel, branched out into three smaller
tubes, each about 4 inches in diameter, which, running
parallel to each other through the whole length of the
cask, went out of it above, by three different holes in
the upper head of the cask, and ended in a canal which
led to the chimney.

This tube, by which the smoke passed through the
cask, was branched out into a number of branches in
order to increase the surface, by which the heat of the
smoke was communicated to the water in the cask.
The cask was supplied with water from a reservoir
placed in the upper part of the building, by means of
a leaden pipe of communication from the one to the
other ; and the machinery was so contrived that, when
any water was drawn out of the cask for use, it was
immediately replaced from the reservoir ; but as soon
as the water in the cask had regained its proper
height, the cold water from the reservoir ceased to
flow in it.

Nothing more generally excited the surprise and
curiosity of those who visited this kitchen, than to see
water actually boiled in a wooden cask, and drawn from
it boiling hot, by a brass cock. I have been the more
particular in describing the manner in which this was
done, as I have reason to think that a contrivance of

and the Economy of Fuel. 21

this kind, or something similar to it, might, in many
cases, be applied to useful purposes. No contrivance
can possibly be invented by which heat can be com-
municated to fluids with so little loss ; and as wood is
not only an excellent non-conductor of heat itself, but
may easily be surrounded by confined air, by furs, and
other like bodies which are known to be useful in con-
fining heat, the loss of heat, by the sides of a contain-
ing vessel composed of wood, might be almost entirely
prevented.

Why should not the boilers for large salt-works and
breweries, and those destined for other similar processes,
in which great quantities of water are heated or evap-
orated, be constructed of wood, with horizontal tubes
of iron or of copper, communicating with the fire-place,
and running through them, for the circulation of the
smoke ? But this is not the place to enlarge upon this
subject: I shall therefore leave it for the present, and
return to my kitchens.

To prepare the soup furnished to the poor from the
kitchen of the House of Industry, it was found neces-
sary to keep up the fire near five hours ; the soup, in
order to its being good, requiring to be kept actually
boiling above three hours.

The fuel made use of in this kitchen was dry beech-
wood; a cord of which (or klafter, as it is called), 5
English feet 8T90- inches long, 5 feet 8^ inches high,
and 3 feet ij inches wide, and which weighed at an
average about 2200 Bavarian pounds (= 2724 Ibs.
avoirdupois), cost at an average about 5^ florins
(= 9.9. 6W. sterling) in the market.

Of this wood the daily consumption, when soup was
provided for 1000 persons, was about 300 Ibs. Bavarian

22 Of the Management of Fire

weight, or about |, or more exactly. & of a cord or
klafter, which cost 43 kreutzers (60 kreutzers making a
florin), or about is. ifed. sterling; and this gives 2V of
a kreutzer, or ^V of a farthing, for the daily expense for
fuel in cooking for each person.

To make an estimate of the daily expense for fuel
in cooking the same quantity of the same kind of soup
in private kitchens, we will suppose these 1000 per-
sons, who were fed from the public kitchen of the
House of Industry, to be separated into families of 5
persons each.

This would make just 200 families ; and the quantity
of wood consumed in the public kitchen daily for feed-
ing looo persons (= 300 Ibs.), being divided among
200 families, gives li Ibs. 6f wood for the daily con-
sumption of each family; and, according to this esti-
mate, i cord of wood, weighing 2200 Ibs., ought to
suffice for cooking for such a family 1466 days, or 4
years and 6 days.

But upon the most careful inquiries relative to the
real consumption of fuel in private families in opera-
tions of cookery, as they are now generally performed
over an open fire, I find that 5 Bavarian pounds of good
peas-soup can hardly be prepared at a less expense of
fuel than 1 5 Ibs. of dry beech-wood of the best quality ;
consequently, a cord of such wood, instead of sufficing
for preparing a soup daily for a family of 5 persons for
4 years, would hardly suffice for so long a time as 5
months.

And hence it appears that the consumption of fuel
in the kitchens of private families is to that consumed
in the first kitchen of the House of Industry at Munich,
in preparing the same quantity of the same kind of food

and the Economy of Fuel. 23

(peas-soup), as 10 to i.* But it must be remembered
that this difference in the quantities of fuel expended is
not occasioned entirely by the difference between the
two methods of managing the fire; for, exclusive of
the effect produced by a given arrangement of the ma-
chinery, with the same arrangement, the greater the
quantity of food prepared at once, or the larger the
boiler (within certain limits, however, as will be seen
hereafter), the less in proportion will be the quantity of
fuel required ; and the saving of fuel which arises from
cooking upon a large scale is very considerable. But I
shall take occasion to treat this part of my subject more
fully elsewhere.

The kitchen in the House of Industry was finished
in the beginning of the year 1 790. And much about
the same time, two other public kitchens upon a large
scale were erected at Munich, under my directions;
namely, the kitchen belonging to the Military Academy,
and that belonging to the Military Hall (as it is called)
in the English garden, in which building near 200 mili-
tary officers messed daily during the annual encamp-
ments, for which purpose this building was erected.

There is likewise in the garden (which is 6 English
miles in circumference) an inn, a farm-house, and a
large dairy; and these establishments gave me an
opportunity of constructing no less than four other
kitchens, — namely, two for the inn, one for the farm-
house, and one for the use of the dairy. And the uses
for which these different kitchens were designed, and to
which they were applied, were so various as not only

* Afterwards, on altering the kitchen of the House of Industry, and
fitting it up on better principles, the economy of fuel was carried still far-
ther, as will be seen in the sequel of this Essay.

24 Of the Management of Fire

to include almost every process of cookery, but also to
afford opportunities of performing the same operations
upon very different scales, and consequently of making
many interesting experiments relative to the manage-
ment of heat and the economy of fuel.

That I did not neglect these opportunities of pur-
suing with effect a subject which had long engaged
my attention, and to which I was much attached, will
readily be believed by those who know what ardour a
curious subject of philosophical investigation is capable
of inspiring in an inquisitive mind.

As the experiments I have made, or caused to be
made, in the different establishments before mentioned,
during the six or seven years that they have existed,
are extremely numerous, it would take up too much
time to give an account of them in detail : I shall
therefore content myself with merely noticing the gen-
eral results of them, and mentioning more particularly
only such of them as appear to me to be most impor-
tant. And in regard to the peculiar construction of the
different kitchens above mentioned, as most of them
have undergone many alterations, and as no one of
them remains exactly in the same state in which it was
first constructed, I do not think it necessary to be very
particular in my account of them : I shall occasionally
mention the principles on which they were constructed,
and the faults I discovered in them ; but when I shall
come to speak of those imjfrovements which have stood
the test of actual experience, and which I can recom-
mend as being worthy of imitation, I shall take care to
be very exact and particular in my descriptions.

It will not be found very difficult, I fancy, from
what has been said, to form a pretty just idea of the

and the Economy of Fuel. 25

construction of the kitchen in the House of Industry
above described, even without the help of a plan or
drawing of it. That in the Military Academy was
constructed upon a different principle. Instead of
heating all the boilers from one and the same fire-
place, almost every boiler had its own separate fire-
place ; and though the boilers were all furnished with
double covers, similar to those made use of in the
kitchen of the House of Industry, yet there was no
attempt made to recover the heat carried off by the
steam, but it was suffered to escape without hindrance
into the atmosphere; it having been found, by the
experiments made in the kitchen of the House of
Industry, that when the fire is properly managed, — that
is to say, when the heat is but just sufficient to keep the
liquid boiling hot, or very gently boiling, — the quantity
of steam generated is inconsiderable, and the heat carried
off by it not worth the trouble of saving. Each fire-
place was furnished with an iron grate, upon which the
wood was burnt ; and the opening into the fire, as well
as that which communicated with the ash-pit, had in
each its separate iron door.

Finding afterwards that the iron door which closed
the opening by which the wood was introduced into
the fire-place was much heated, and consequently that
it caused a considerable loss of heat by communicating
it to the cold atmosphere with which it was in contact ;
in order to remedy this evil without incurring the ex-
pense of double doors, the iron door was removed, and
in its stead was placed a hollow cylinder, or rather
truncated cone, of burnt clay or common earthen ware,
which cone was 4 inches long, 6 inches in diameter
internally, and 8 inches in diameter externally, at its

26 Of the Management of Fire

larger end or base ; and 5$ inches in diameter inter-
nally, and 71 inches in diameter externally, at its smaller
end ; and being firmly fixed, with its axis in a hori-
zontal position, and its larger end or base outwards, in
the middle of the opening leading to the fire-place, and
being well united with the solid brick-work by means
of mortar, the cavity of this cone formed the opening
by which the wood was introduced into the fire-place.
This cavity being closed with a fit stopper of earthen
ware, as earthen ware is a non-conductor of heat, or as
heat cannot pass through it but with great difficulty
and very slowly, the external surface of this cone and its
stopper were never much heated, consequently the quan-
tity of heat they could communicate to the atmosphere
was but very trifling. This contrivance was afterwards
rendered much more simple by substituting, instead of the
hollow cone, a tile, 10 inches square, and about 2i inches
thick, with a conical hole in its centre, 6 inches in diam-
eter externally, and 5! inches in diameter within, pro-
vided with a fit baked -earthen stopper. (See the Figures
No. 6, 7, and 8, Plate I.)

A perforated square tile is preferable to a hollow cylin-
der for forming a passage into the fire-place, not only
because it is cheaper, stronger, and more durable, but
also because it may, on account of its form, be more
easily and more firmly fixed in its place, and united with
the rest of the brick-work. •

If proper moulds be provided for forming these per-
forated tiles and their stoppers, they may be afforded for
a mere trifle. In Munich they are made of the very best
earth, by the Elector's potter ; and they cost no more than
24 kreutzers, or something less than 9^. sterling, for a
tile with its stopper. I had several made of sandstone

and the Economy of Fuel. 27

by a stone-cutter, but they cost me i florin and 30
kreutzers, or about is. gd. sterling each.

Though those made of stone answered perfectly well,
yet I found them not better than those made of earthen
ware ; and as these last are much cheaper, and I believe
equally durable, they ought certainly to be preferred.
That the stopper may be made to fit with accuracy the
hole it is intended to close (which is necessary, as will be
seen hereafter), they may be ground together with fine
sand moistened with water.

Sensible from the beginning of the great importance
of being absolutely master of the air which is admitted
into the fire-place to feed the fire, so as to be able to
admit more or less at pleasure, or to exclude it entirely,
I took care, in all my fire-places, to close very exactly the
passage into the ash-pit by a door carefully fitted to
its frame, the air being admitted through a semicircular
opening furnished with a register in the middle of this
door. This contrivance (which admits of no further
improvement) is indispensably necessary in all well-con-
structed fire-places, great or small. (See the Figures
from Fig. 9 to Fig. 16, Plate II.)

Having occasion, in the course of my arrangements,
to make use of a great number of boilers, and often of
several boilers of the same dimensions, I availed myself
of that circumstance to determine, by actual experi-
ments, the best form for boilers, or that form which,
with any given capacity, shall be best adapted for saving
fuel.

Two or more boilers of the same capacity, but of dif-
ferent forms, constructed of sheet-copper of the same
thickness, were placed in closed fire-places, constructed
as nearly as possible upon the same principles, and were

28 Of the Management of Fire

used for a length of time in the same culinary processes ;
and the quantity of fuel consumed by each being noted,
the comparative advantages of their different forms were
ascertained. Some of these boilers were made deep and
narrow, others wide and shallow ; there were some with
flat bottoms, others of a globular form, and others again
with their bottoms drawn inward like the bottom of
a common glass bottle. The results of these inquiries
were very curious, and led me to a most interesting dis-
covery. They taught me not only what forms are
best for boilers, but also (what is still more interesting)
why one form is preferable to another. They gave me
much new light with respect to the manner in which
flame and hot vapour part with their heat ; and sug-
gested to me the idea of a very important improvement
in the internal construction of fire-places, which I have
since put in practice with great success.

But in order to be able to explain this matter in a
clear and satisfactory manner, and to render it easier to
be understood by those who have not been much con-
versant in inquiries of this kind, it will be necessary to
go back a little, and to treat the subject under consid-
eration in a more regular and scientific manner.

Though it was not my intention originally to write an
elementary treatise on heat, yet, as the first or funda-
mental principles of that science are necessary to be
known, in order to establish upon solid grounds the
practical rules and directions relative to the manage-
ment of heat which will hereafter be recommended, it
will not, I trust, be deemed either improper or superflu-
ous to take a more extensive view of the subject, and
to treat it methodically, and at some length.

I have perhaps already exposed myself to criticism by

and the Economy of Fuel. 29

paying so little attention to method in this Essay, as to
postpone so long the investigation of the elementary
principles of the science I have undertaken to treat. It
may be thought that the part of the subject I am now
about to consider should have preceded all other inves-
tigation ; that instead of occupying the middle of my
book, it ought to have been discussed in the Introduc-
tion, or at least to have been treated in the beginning
of the first chapter. But if I have been guilty of a
fault in the arrangement of my subject, it has arisen not
from inattention, but from an error of judgment. De-
sirous rather of writing a useful book, than of being
the author of a splendid performance, I have not scru-
pled to transgress the established rules of elegant com-
position in all cases where I thought it would contribute
to my main design, public utility ; and well aware that
my book, in order to its being really useful, must be
read by many who have neither time nor patience to
labour through an elementary treatise upon so abstruse
a subject, I have endeavoured to decoy my reader into the
situation in which I wish him to be placed, in order to
his having a complete view of the prospect I have pre-
pared for him, rather than to force him into it. If I
have used art in doing this, he must forgive me; my
design was not only innocent, but such as ought to
entitle me to his thanks and to his esteem. I wished
to entice him on as far as possible, without letting him
perceive the difficulties of the road ; and now that we
have come on together so far, and are so near our jour-
ney's end, I hope and trust that he will not leave me.
To proceed, therefore —

3O Of the Management of Fire

CHAPTER II.

Of the GENERATION OF HEAT in the COMBUSTION OF
FUEL. — Without knowing what Heat really is, the
Laws of its Action may be investigated. — Probabil-
ity that the Heat generated in the Combustion of
Fuel is furnished by the Air, and not by the Fuel. —
Effects of blowing a Fire explained. — Of Fire-places
in which the Fire is made to blow itself. — Of Air-
furnaces. — These Fire-places illustrated by a Lamp
on ARGAND'S Principle. — Great Importance of being
able to regulate the Quantity of Air which enters a
closed Fire-place. — Utility of Dampers in the Chim-
neys of closed Fire-places. — General Rules and Direc-
tions for constructing closed Fire-places ; with a full
Explanation of the Principles on which these Rules
are founded.

WITHOUT entering into those abstruse and most
difficult investigations respecting the nature of
fire, which have employed the attention and divided
the opinions of speculative philosophers in all ages;
without even attempting to determine whether there
be such a thing as an igneous fluid or not, — whether
what we call heat be occasioned by the accumulation,
or by the increased action of such a fluid, or whether
it arises merely from an increased motion in the com-
ponent particles of the body heated, or of some elastic
fluid by which those particles are supposed to be sur-
rounded, and upon which they are supposed to act, or
by which they are supposed to be acted upon : in

and the Economy of Fuel. 31

short, without bewildering myself and my reader in
this endless labyrinth of darkness and uncertainty, I
shall confine my inquiries to objects more useful, and
which are clearly within the reach of human investiga-
tion; namely, the discovery of the sensible properties
of heat, and of the most advantageous methods of gen-
erating it, and of directing it with certainty and effect
in those various processes in which it is employed in
the economy of human life.

Though I do not undertake to determine what heat
really is. nor even to offer any opinions or conjectures
relative to that subject ; yet as heat is evidently some-
thing capable of being excited or generated, increased
or accumulated, measured and transferred from one
body to another, — in treating the subject I shall speak
of it as being generated, confined, directed, dispersed,
etc., it being necessary to use these terms in order to
make myself understood.

Though it is not known exactly how much heat it is
possible to produce in the combustion of any given
quantity of any given kind of fuel, yet it is more than
probable that the quantity depends in a great measure
on the management of the fire. It is likewise probable
— I might say certain — that the heat produced is fur-
nished not merely by the fuel, but in a great measure,
if not entirely, by the air by which the fire is fed and
supported. It is well known that air is necessary to
combustion ; it is likewise known that the pure part of
common atmospheric air, or that part of it (amounting
to about -5- of its whole volume) which alone is capable
of supporting the combustion of inflammable bodies,
undergoes a remarkable change, or is actually decom-
posed in that process ; and as in this decomposition of

32 Of the Management of Fire

pure air a great quantity of heat is known to be set
loose, or to become redundant, it has been supposed
by many (and with much appearance of probability)
that by far the greater part, if not all the heat produced
in the combustion of inflammable bodies, is derived
from this source.

But whether it be the air or the fuel which furnishes
the heat, it seems to be quite certain that the quantity
furnished depends much upon the management of the
fire, and that the quantity is greater as the combustion
or decomposition of the fuel is more complete. In all
probability, the decomposition of the air keeps pace
with the decomposition of the fuel.

It is well known that the consumption of fuel is
much accelerated, and the intensity of the heat aug-
mented, by causing the air by which the combustion
is excited to flow into the fire-place in a continued
stream, and with a certain degree of velocity. Hence,
blowing a fire, when the current of air is properly
directed and when it is not too strong, serves to accel-
erate the combustion and to increase the heat; but
when the blast is improperly directed, it will rather
serve to derange and to impede the combustion than
to forward it ; and when it is too strong, it will blow
the fire quite out, or totally extinguish it. There is no
fire, however intense, but may be blown out by a blast
of air, provided it be sufficiently strong, and that as
infallibly as by a stream of cold water. Even gun-
powder, the most inflammable perhaps of known sub-
stances, may be actually on fire at its surface, and yet
the fire may be blown out and extinguished before
the grain of powder has had time to be entirely con-
sumed.

and the Economy of Fuel. 33

This fact, however extraordinary and incredible it
may appear, I have proved by the most unexception-
able and conclusive experiments.

Fire-places may be so constructed that the fire may
be made to blow itself, or — which is the same thing —
to cause a current of air to flow into the fire ; and this
is an object to which the greatest attention ought to
be paid in the construction of all fire-places where it is
not intended to make use of an artificial blast from
bellows for blowing the fire. Furnaces constructed
upon this principle have been called air-furnaces ; but
every fire-place, and particularly every closed fire-place,
ought to be an air-furnace, and that even were it in-
tended to serve only for the smallest saucepan, other-
wise it cannot be perfect.

An Argand's lamp is a fire-place upon this construc-
tion ; for the glass tube which surrounds the wick (and
which distinguishes this lamp from all others) serves
merely as a blower. The circular form of the wick is
not essential ; for by applying a flatted glass tube as a
blower to a lamp with a flat or riband wick, it may be
made to give as much light as an Argand's lamp, or at
least quite as much in proportion to the size of the
wick, and to the quantity of oil consumed, as I have
found by actual experiment.

But it is not the light alone that is increased in con-
sequence of the application of these blowers : the heat
also is rendered much more intense ; and as the heat
of any fire may be increased by a similar contrivance,
on that account it is that I have had recourse to these
lamps to assist me in explaining the subject under con-
sideration. In these lamps the fire-place is closed on
all sides, and the current of air which feeds the fire

34 Of t&e Management of Fire

rises up perpendicularly from below the fire-place into
the fire. By surrounding the fire on all sides by a
wall, the cold atmosphere is prevented from rushing in
laterally from all quarters to supply the place of the
heated air or vapour, which, in consequence of its in-
creased elasticity from the heat, continually rises from
the fire, and this causes the current of air below (the
only quarter from which it can with advantage flow
into the fire) to be very strong.

But in order that a fire-place may be perfect, it
should be so contrived that the combustion of the fuel
and the generation of the heat may occasionally be
accelerated or retarded, without adding to or diminish-
ing the quantity of fuel; and, when the fire-place is
closed, this may easily 'be done by means of a register
in the door which closes the passage leading to the ash-
pit; for, as the rapidity of the combustion depends
upon the quantity of air by which the fire is fed, by
opening the register more or less, more or less air will
be admitted into the fire-place, and consequently more
or less fuel will be consumed, and more or less heat
generated in any given time, though the quantity of
fuel in the fire-place be actually much greater than what
otherwise would be sufficient. Fig. 9 shows the form
of the register I commonly use for this purpose.

In order that this register may produce its proper
effect, a valve, or a damper, as it is commonly called,
should be placed in the chimney or canal by which the
smoke is carried off ; which damper should be opened
more or less, as the quantity of air is greater or less
which is admitted into the fire-place. This register
and this damper will be found very useful in another
respect, and that is, in putting out the fire when there

and the Economy of Fuel. 35

is no longer an occasion for it ; for, upon closing them
both entirely, the fire will be immediately extinguished,
and the half-consumed fuel, instead of being suffered to
burn out to no purpose, will be saved.

Nearly the same effects as are produced by a damper
may be produced without one, by causing the smoke,
after it has quitted the fire-place, to descend several
feet below the level of the grate on which the fuel is
burned before it is permitted to go up the chimney.

There is another circumstance of much importance
which must be attended to in the construction of fire-
places, and that is, the proper disposition of the fuel ;
for in order that the combustion may go on well, it is
necessary not only that the fuel be in its proper place,
but also that it be properly disposed ; that is to say,
that the solid parts of the fuel be of a just size, and
that they be not placed too near each other, so as to
prevent the free passage of the air between them, nor
too far asunder ; and if the fire-place can be so con-
trived that solid pieces of the inflamed fuel, as they go
on to be diminished in size as they burn, may naturally
fall together in the centre of the fire-place without any
assistance, it will be a great improvement, as I have
found by experience. This may be done, in small fire-
places (and in these it is more particularly necessary),
by burning the fuel upon a grate in the form of a seg-
ment of a hollow sphere, or of a dish. (See the Figures
3 and 4, Plate I.) All those I now use, except it be for
fire-places which are very large indeed, are of this form ;
and where wood is made use of for fuel, it is cut into
small billets from 4 to 6 inches in length. Instead of
a grate of iron, I have lately introduced grates, or rather
hollow dishes or pans of earthen-ware, perforated with

36 Of the Management of Fire

a great number of holes for giving a passage to the
air.

These perforated earthen pans, which are made very
thick and strong, are incomparably cheaper than iron
grates; and judging from the experience I have had
of them, I am inclined to think they answer even better
than the grates ; indeed it appears to me not difficult to
assign a reason why they ought to be better.

For large fire-places I have sometimes used grates,
the bars of which were common bricks placed edgewise,
and these have been found to answer very well.

As only that part of the air which, entering the fire-
place in a proper manner and in a just quantity, and
coming into actual contact with the burning fuel, is
decomposed, contributes to the generation of heat, it is
evident that all the air that finds its way into the fire-
place, and out of it again, without being decomposed,
is a thief ; that it not only contributes nothing to the
heat, but being itself heated at the expense of the fire,
and going off hot into the atmosphere by the chimney,
occasions an actual loss of heat ; and this loss is often
very considerable, and the prevention of it is such an
object, that too much attention cannot be paid to it in
the construction of fire-places.

When the fire-place is closed on all sides by a wall,
and when the opening by which the fuel is introduced
is kept closed, no air can press in laterally upon the
fire ; but yet, when the grate is larger than the heap of
burning fuel, which must often be the case, a great
quantity of air may insinuate itself by the sides of the
grate into the fire-place, without going through the
fire. But when, instead of an iron grate, a perforated
hollow earthen pan is used, by making the bottom of

and the Economy of Fuel. 37

the pan of a certain thickness, 2, 3, or 4 inches, for
instance, and making all the air-holes point to one
common centre (to the focus or centre of the fire), this
furtive entrance of cold air into the fire-place will in a
great measure be prevented.

This evil may likewise be prevented when circular
hollow iron grates are used, by narrowing the fire-place
immediately under the grate in the form of an in-
verted, truncated, hollow cone, the opening or diameter
of which above being equal to the internal diameter of
the circular rim of the grate, and that below (by which
the air rises to enter the fire-place) about one third of
that diameter. (See the Figure 5, Plate I.) This open-
ing below, through which the air rises, must be imme-
diately under the centre of the grate, and as near to it
as possible ; care must be taken, however, that a small
space be left between the outside or underside of the
iron bars which form the hollow grate and the inside
surface of this inverted hollow cone, in order that the
ashes may slide down into the ash-pit.

As to the form and size of the ash-pit, these are mat-
ters of perfect indifference, provided, however, that it
be large enough to give a free passage to the air neces-
sary for feeding the fire, and that the only passage into
it by which air can enter is closed by a good door fur-
nished with a register. The necessity of being com-
pletely master of the passage by which the air enters
the fire-place has already been sufficiently explained.

It is perhaps unnecessary for me to observe that,
where perforated earthen pans are used instead of iron
grates, the air-holes in the pans ought to be rather
smaller above than below, in order that they may not
be choked up by the small pieces of coal and the

3478C9

38 Of the Management of Fire

ashes which occasionally fall through them into the
ash-pit.

One great advantage attending fire-places on the
construction here proposed is, that they serve equally
well for every kind of fuel. Wood, pit-coal, charcoal,
turf, etc., may indifferently be used, and all of them
with the same facility, and with the same advantages ;
or any two, or more, of these different kinds of fuel
may be used at the same time without the smallest in-
convenience ; or the fire having been lighted with dry
wood, or any other very inflammable material, the heat
may afterwards be kept up by cheaper or more ordinary
fuel of a more difficult and slow combustion. Some
kinds of fuel will perhaps be found most advantageous
for making the pot boil, and others for keeping it boil-
ing ; and a very considerable saving will probably be
found to result from paying due attention to . this cir-
cumstance. When the fire-place is so contrived as to
serve equally well for all kinds of fuel, this may be
done without the least difficulty or trouble.

I have just shown that narrowing that part of the
fire-place which lies below the grate serves to make
the air enter the fire in a more advantageous manner.
This construction has another advantage, perhaps still
more important : the heat which is projected downwards
through the openings between the bars of the grate, in-
stead of being permitted to escape into the ash-pit (where
it would be lost), striking against the sides of this in-
verted hollow cone, it is there stopped, and afterwards
rises into the fire-place again with the current of air
which feeds the fire, or it is immediately reflected by
this conical surface, and, after two or three bounds from
side to side, is thrown up against the bottom of the
boiler.

and the Economy of Fuel. 39

But in order to be able to form a clear and distinct
idea upon this subject, it is necessary to examine with
care all the circumstances attending the generation of
heat in the combustion of inflammable bodies, and to
see in what manner or under what form the heat gen-
erated manifests itself, and how it may be collected,
accumulated, confined, and directed.

This opens a wide field for philosophical inquiry ; but
as these investigations are not only curious and enter-
taining, but also useful and important in a high degree,
I trust my reader will pardon me for requesting his par-
ticular attention while I endeavour to do justice to this
most interesting, but, at the same time, most abstruse
and most difficult part of the subject I have undertaken
to treat.

The heat generated in the combustion of fuel mani-
fests itself in two ways; namely, in the hot vapour
which rises from the fire, with which it may be said to
be combined, and in the calorific rays which are thrown
off from the fire in all directions. These rays may,
with greater propriety, be said to be calorific, or capable
of generating heat, in any body by which they are
stopped, than to be called hot ; for when they pass
freely through any medium (as through a mass of air,
for instance), they are not found to communicate any
heat whatever to such medium ; neither do they appear
to excite any considerable degree of heat in bodies
from whose surfaces they are reflected ; and in these
Irespects they bear a manifest resemblance to the rays
emitted by the sun.

What proportion this radiant heat (if I may be
allowed to use so inaccurate an expression) bears to
that which goes off from burning bodies in the smoke

40 Of the Management of Fire

and heated vapour, is not exactly known ; it is certain,
however, that the quantity of heat which goes off in the
heated elastic fluids, visible and invisible, which rise
from a fire, is much greater than that which all the
calorific rays united would be capable of producing.
But though the quantity of radiant heat is less than
that existing in the hot vapour (and which, for the sake
of distinction, may be called combined heat\ the former
is still much too considerable to be neglected.

That the heat generated, or excited, by the calorific
rays which proceed from burning bodies is in fact con-
siderable, is evident from the heat which is felt in a
room warmed by a chimney fire ; for as all the heat,
combined with the smoke and hot vapour, goes up the
chimney, it is certain that the increase of heat in the
room, occasioned by the fire, is entirely owing to
the calorific rays thrown into it from the burning
fuel.

The activity of these rays may be shown in various
ways, but in no way in a more striking manner than by
the following simple experiment : When the fire burns
bright upon the hearth, let the arm be extended in a
straight line towards the centre of the fire, with the
hand open, and all the fingers extended and pointing to
the fire. If the hand is not nearer the fire than the
distance of two or three yards, except the fire be very
large indeed, the heat will scarcely be perceptible ; but
if, without moving the arm, the wrist be bent upwards
so as to present the inside or flat of the hand perpen-
dicular to the fire, the heat will not only be very sensibly
felt, but if the fire be large, and if it burns clear and
bright, it will be found to be so intense as to be quite
insupportable.

and the Economy of Fuel. 41

It is not, however, burning bodies alone that emit
calorific rays. All bodies — those which are fixed and
incombustible as well as those which are inflammable,
fluids as well as solids — are found to throw off these
rays in great abundance, as soon as they are heated to
that degree which is necessary to their becoming lumi-
nous in the dark, or till they are red-hot.

Bodies even which are heated to a less degree than
that which is necessary to their emitting visible light
send off calorific rays in all directions. This is a mat-
ter of fact, which has been proved by experiment. Do
all bodies, at all temperatures, — freezing mercury as
well as melting iron, — continually emit these rays in
greater or less quantities, or with greater or less veloci-
ties? Are bodies cooled in consequence of their
emitting these rays? Do these calorific rays always
generate heat, even when the body by which they are
stopped or absorbed is hotter than that from which the
rays proceeded ? But I forget that I promised not to
involve myself in abstruse speculation. To return,
then. Whatever may be the nature of the rays
emitted by burning fuel, as one of their known proper-
ties is to generate heat, they ought certainly to be very
particularly attended to in every arrangement in which
the economy of heat, or of fuel, is a principal object in
view.

As these calorific rays generate heat in the body by
which they are stopped or absorbed, and not in the me-
dium through which they pass, it is necessary to dispose
those bodies which are designed for stopping them in
such a manner that they may easily and necessarily
communicate the heat they thus acquire to the body
upon which it is intended that it should operate.

42 Of the Management of Fire

The closed fire-places which I have recommended,
and which will hereafter be more particularly described,
will answer this purpose completely. The fire being
closed in these fire-places on every side, as well below
the grate as laterally, and in short everywhere, except
where the bottom of the boiler presents itself to the
fire, none of these rays can possibly escape ; and as the
materials of which the fire-place is constructed (bricks
and mortar) are bad conductors of heat, but a small
part of the heat generated in the combustion of the fuel
will be absorbed and transmitted by them into the inte-
rior parts of the wall, there to be dispersed and lost.
But the confining of heat is a matter of sufficient
importance to deserve being treated in a separate
chapter.

CHAPTER III.

Of the Means of CONFINING HEAT, and DIRECTING ITS
OPERATIONS. — Of Conductors and Non-conductors
of Heat. — Common Atmospheric Air a good Non-
conductor of Heat, and may be employed with great
Advantage for confining it ; is employed by Nature
for that Purpose, in many Instances ; is the princi-
pal Cause of the Warmth of Natural and Artificial
Clothing; is the sole Cause of the Warmth of Double
Windows. — Great Utility of Double Windows
and Double Walls: they are equally useful in Hot
Countries as in Cold. — ALL ELASTIC FLUIDS Non-
conductors of Heat. — STEAM proved by Experiment

and the Economy of Fuel. 43

to be a Non-conductor of Heat. — FLAME is also a
Non-conductor of Heat.

THAT heat passes more freely through some bodies
than through others, is a fact well known ; but
the cause of this difference in the conducting powers
of bodies with respect to heat has not yet been dis-
covered.

The utility of giving a wooden handle to a tea-pot or
coffee-pot of metal, or of covering its metallic handle
with leather, or with wood, is well known. But the dif-
ference in the conducting powers of various bodies with
regard to heat may be shown by a great number of very
simple experiments, such as are in the power of every
one to make at all times and in all places, and almost
without either trouble or expense.

If an iron nail and a pin of wood, of the same form
and dimensions, be held successively in the flame of a
candle, the difference in the conducting powers of the
metal and of wood will manifest itself in a manner in
which there will be no room left for doubt. As soon as
the end of the nail which is exposed in the flame of the
candle begins to be heated, the other end of it will grow
so hot as to render it impossible to hold it in the hand
without being burned ; but the wood may be held any
length of time in the same situation without the least
inconvenience ; and, even after it has taken fire, it may
be held till it is almost entirely consumed, for the unin-
flamed wood will not grow hot, and, till the flame actu-
ally comes in contact with the fingers, they will not be
burned. If a small slip or tube of glass be held in the
flame of the candle in the same manner, the end of the
glass by which it is held will be found to be more heated

44 Of the Management of Fire

than the wood, but incomparably less so than the pin or
nail of metal ; and among all the various bodies that can
be tried in this manner, no two of them will be found to
give a passage to heat through their substances with
exactly the same degree of facility.*

To confine heat is nothing more than to prevent its
escape out of the hot body in which it exists, and in
which it is required to be retained ; and this can only be
done by surrounding the hot body by some covering
composed of a substance through which heat cannot
pass, or through which it passes with great difficulty. If
a covering could be found perfectly impervious to heat,
there is reason to believe that a hot body, completely
surrounded by it, would remain hot for ever ; but we are
acquainted with no such substance, nor is it probable
that any such exists.

Those bodies in which heat passes freely or rapidly
are called conductors of heat ; those in which it makes
its way with great difficulty or very slowly, non-conduct-
ors, or bad conductors of heat. The epithets, good,
bad, indifferent, excellent, etc., are applied indifferently
to conductors and to non-conductors. A good con-
ductor, for instance, is one in which heat passes very
freely ; a good non-conductor is one in which it passes
with great difficulty ; and an indifferent conductor may
likewise be called, without any impropriety, an indifferent
non-conductor.

* To show the relative conducting power of the different metals, Doctor
Ingenhouz contrived a very pretty experiment. He took equal cylinders of the
different metals (being straight pieces of stout wire, drawn through the same
hole, and of the same length), and, dipping them into melted wax, covered them
with a thin coating of the wax. He then held one end of each of these cylin-
ders in boiling water, and observed how far the coating of wax was melted by
the heat communicated through the metal, and with what celerity the heat
passed.

and the Economy of Fuel. 45

Those bodies which are the worst conductors, or
rather the best non-conductors of heat, are best adapted
for forming coverings for confining heat.

All the metals are remarkably good conductors of
heat ; wood, and in general all light, dry, and spongy
bodies are non-conductors. Glass, though a very hard
and compact body, is a non-conductor. Mercury, water,
and liquids of all kinds, are conductors ; but air, and in
general all elastic fluids, steam even not excepted, are
non-conductors.

Some experiments which I have lately made, and
which have not yet been published, have induced me to
suspect that water, mercury, and all other non-elastic
fluids, do not permit heat to pass through them from
particle to particle, as it undoubtedly passes through
solid bodies, but that their apparent conducting powers
depend essentially upon the extreme mobility of their
parts; in short, that they rather transport heat than
allow it a passage. But I will not anticipate a subject
which I propose to treat more fully at some future
period.

The conducting power of any solid body in one solid
mass is much greater than that of the same body
reduced to a powder, or divided into many smaller
pieces. An iron bar, or an iron plate, for instance, is a
much better conductor of heat than iron filings ; and
sawdust is a better non-conductor than wood. Dry
wood-ashes is a better non-conductor than either ; and
very dry charcoal reduced to a fine powder is one of the
best non-conductors known ; and as charcoal is perfectly
incombustible when confined in a space where fresh air
can have no access, it is admirably well calculated for
forming a barrier for confining heat, where the heat to
be confined is intense.

46 Of the Management of Fire

But among all the various substances of which cover-
ings may be formed for confining heat, none can be
employed with greater advantage than common atmos-
pheric air. It is what nature employs for that purpose ;
and we cannot do better than to imitate her.

The warmth of the wool and fur of beasts, and of the
feathers of birds, is undoubtedly owing to the air in their
interstices ; which air, being strongly attracted by these
substances, is confined, and forms a barrier which not
only prevents the cold winds from approaching the body
of the animal, but which opposes an almost insurmount-
able obstacle to the escape of the heat of the animal
into the atmosphere. And in the same manner the air
in snow serves to preserve the heat of the earth in win-
ter. The warmth of all kinds of artificial clothing may
be shown to depend on the same cause ; and were this
circumstance more generally known, and more attended
to, very important improvements in the management of
heat could not fail to result from it. A great part of our
lives is spent in guarding ourselves against the extremes
of heat and of cold, and in operations in which the use
of fire is indispensable ; and yet how little progress has
been made in that most useful and most important of
the arts, — the management of heat !

Double windows have been in use many years in most
of the northern parts of Europe, and their great utility,
in rendering the houses furnished with them warm and
comfortable in winter, is universally acknowledged ; but
I have never heard that anybody has thought of em-
ploying them in hot countries to keep their apartments
cool in summer ; yet how easy and natural is this appli-
cation of so simple and so useful an invention ! If a
double window can prevent the heat which is in a room

and the Economy of Fuel. 47

from passing out of it, one would imagine it could re-
quire no great effort of genius to discover that it would
be equally efficacious for preventing the heat without
from coming in. But natural as this conclusion may
appear, I believe it has never yet occurred to anybody ;
at least I am quite certain that I have never seen a
double window either in Italy or in any other hot
country I have had occasion to visit.*

But the utility of double windows and double walls,
in hot as well as in cold countries, is a matter of so
much importance that I shall take occasion to treat it
more fully in another place. In the mean time, I shall
only observe here that it is the confined air shut up
between the two windows, and not the double glass
plates, that renders the passage of heat through them so
difficult. Were it owing to the increased thickness of
the glass, a single pane of glass twice as thick would
answer the same purpose ; but the increased thickness
of the glass of which a window is formed is not
found to have any sensible effect in rendering a room
warmer.

But air is not only a non-conductor of heat, but its
non-conducting power may be greatly increased. To
be able to form a just idea of the manner in which air
may be rendered a worse conductor of heat, or, which
is the same thing, a better non-conductor of it than it
is in its natural unconfined state, it will be necessary to
consider the manner in which heat passes through air.

* When double windows are used in hot countries to keep dwelling-houses
cool, great care mwst be taken to screen those windows from the sun's direct
rays, and even from the strong light of day, otherwise they will produce effects
directly contrary to those intended. This may easily be done either by Vene-
tian blinds or by awnings. In all cases where rooms are to be kept cool in hot
weather, the less light that is permitted to enter them the cooler they will be.

48 Of the Management of Fire

Now it appears, from the result of a number of experi-
ments which I made with a view to the investigation of
this subject, and which are published in a paper read
before the Royal Society,* that though the particles of
air, each particle for itself, can receive heat from other
bodies, or communicate it to them, yet there is no com-
munication of heat between one particle of air and
another particle of air. And from hence it follows
that though air may, and certainly does, carry off heat
and transport it from one place or from one body to
another, yet a mass of air in a quiescent state, or with
all its particles at rest, could it remain in that state,
would be totally impervious to heat, or such a mass of
air would be a perfect non-conductor.

Now if heat passes in a mass of air merely in conse-
quence of the motion it occasions in that air ; if it be
transported, — not suffered to pass, — in that case, it is
clear that whatever can obstruct and impede the inter-
nal motion of the air must tend to diminish its con-
ducting power. And this I have found to be the case
in fact. I found that a certain quantity of heat which
was able to make its way through a wall, or rather
a sheet of confined air, \ an inch thick in 9! minutes,
required 2 if minutes to make its way through the same
wall, when the internal motion of this air was impeded
by mixing with it -^ part of its bulk of eider-down, of
very fine fur, or of fine silk, as spun by the worm.

But in mixing bodies with air, in order to impede its
internal motion and render it more fit for confining
heat, such bodies only must be chosen as are themselves
non-conductors of heat, otherwise they will do more

* See the Philosophical Transactions, 1792. See also Vol. I., pp. 401 and
following.

and the Economy of FueL 49

harm than good, as I have found by experience.
When, instead of making use of eider-down, fur, or
fine silk for impeding the internal motion of the con-
fined air, I used an equal volume of exceedingly fine
silver-wire flatted (being the ravellings of gold or silver
lace), the passage of the heat through the barrier, so far
from being impeded, was remarkably facilitated by this
addition, — the heat passing through this compound of
air and fine threads of metal much sooner than it would
have made its way through the air alone.

Another circumstance to be attended to in the choice
of a substance to be mixed with air, in order to form a
covering or barrier for confining heat, is the fineness or
subtilty of its parts ; for the finer they are, the greater
will be their surface in proportion to their solidity, and
the more will they impede the motions of the particles
of the air. Coarse horse-hair would be found to answer
much worse for this purpose than the fine fur of a
beaver, though it is not probable that there is any
essential difference in the chemical properties of those
two kinds of hair.

But it is not only the fineness of the parts of a sub- £
stance, and its being a non-conductor, which render it
proper to be employed in the formation of covering to
confine heat; there is still another property, more
occult, which seems to have great influence in render-
ing some substances better fitted for this use than
others : and this is a certain attraction which subsists
between certain bodies and air. The obstinacy with
which air adheres to the fine fur of beasts and to the
feathers of birds is well-known ; and it may easily be
proved that this attraction must assist very powerfully
in preventing the motion of the air concealed in the

VOL. III. 4

5O * Of the Management of Fire

interstices of those substances, and consequently in
impeding the passage of heat through them.

Perhaps there may be another still more hidden cause
which renders one substance better than another for
confining heat. I have shown by a direct and unex-
ceptionable experiment that heat can pass through the
Torricellian vacuum,* though with rather more diffi-
culty than in air (the conducting power of air being to
that of a Torricellian vacuum as 1000 to 604, or as 10 to
6, very nearly) ; but if heat can pass where there is no
air, it must in that case pass by a medium more subtile
than air, — a medium which most probably pervades all
solid bodies with the greatest facility, and which must
certainly pervade either the glass or the mercury em-
ployed in making a Torricellian vacuum.

Now, if there exists a medium more subtile than air
by which heat may be conducted, is it not possible that
there may exist a certain affinity between that medium
and sensible bodies ? a certain attraction or cohesion,
by means of which bodies in general, or some kinds
of bodies in particular, may, somehow or other, impede
this medium in its operations in conducting or trans-
porting heat from one place to another? It appeared
from the result of several of my experiments, of which
I have given an account in detail in my paper be-
fore mentioned, published in the year 1786, in vol.
Ixxvi. of the Philosophical Transactions, that the con-
ducting power of a Torricellian vacuum is to that of
air as 604 to 1000; but I found by a subsequent ex-
periment (see my second Paper on Heat, published in
the Philosophical Transactions for the year 1792) that

* See my Experiments on Heat, published in the Philosophical Transactions,
Vol. LXXVI.

and the Economy of Fuel. 5 1

55 parts in bulk of air, "with i part of fine raw silk,
formed a covering for confining heat, the conducting
power of which was to that of air as 576 to 1284, or
as 448 to 1000. Now, from the result of this last-men-
tioned experiment, it should seem that the introduction
into the space through which the heat passed of so small
a quantity of raw silk as 5V part of the volume or capac-
ity of that space, rendered that space (which now con-
tained 5 5 parts of air and i part of silk) more impervious
to heat than even a Torricellian vacuum. The silk must
therefore not only have completely destroyed the con-
ducting power of the air, but must also at the same time
have very sensibly impaired that of the ethereal fluid
which probably occupies the interstices of air, and which
serves to conduct heat through a Torricellian vacuum :
for a Torricellian vacuum was a better conductor of
heat than this medium, in the proportion of 604 to 448.
But I forbear to. enlarge upon this subject, being sensi-
ble of the danger of reasoning upon the properties of
a fluid whose existence even is doubtful, and feeling
that our knowledge of the nature of heat, and of the
manner in which it is communicated from one body to
another, is much too imperfect and obscure to enable us
to pursue these speculations with any prospect of suc-
cess or advantage.

Whatever may be the manner in which heat is com-
municated from one body to another, I think it has been
sufficiently proved that it passes with great difficulty
through confined air ; and the knowledge -of this fact
is very important, as it enables us to take our measures
with certainty and with facility for confining heat, and
directing its operations to useful purposes.

But atmospheric air is not the only non-conductor of

52 Of the Management of Fire

heat. All kinds of air, artificial as well as natural, and
in general all elastic fluids, steam not excepted, seem to
possess this property in as high a degree of perfection
as atmospheric air.

That steam is not a conductor of heat I proved by
the following experiment : A large globular bottle being
provided, of very thin and very transparent glass, with a
narrow neck, and its bottom drawn inward so as to form
a hollow hemisphere about 6 inches in diameter ; this
bottle, which was about 8 inches in diameter externally,
being filled with cold water, was placed in a shallow dish,
or rather plate, about 10 inches in diameter, with a flat
bottom formed of very thin sheet brass, and raised upon
a tripod, and which contained a small quantity (about
•& of an inch in dep'th) of water ; a spirit-lamp being
then placed under the middle of this plate, in a very few
minutes the water in the plate began to boil, and the
hollow formed by the bottom of the bottle was filled
with clouds of steam, which, after circulating in it with
surprising rapidity 4 or 5 minutes, and after forcing out
a good deal of air from under the bottle, began gradually
to clear up. At the end of 8 or 10 minutes (when, as I
supposed, the air remaining with the steam in the hol-
low cavity formed by the bottom of the bottle had ac-
quired nearly the same temperature as that of the steam)
these clouds totally disappeared ; and though the water
continued to boil with the utmost violence, the contents
of this hollow cavity became so perfectly invisible, and
so little appearance was there of steam, that had it not
been for the streams of water which were continually
running down its sides I should almost have been
tempted to doubt whether any steam was actually gen-
erated.

and the Economy of Fuel. 53

Upon lifting up for an instant one side of the bottle,
and letting in a smaller quantity of cold air, the clouds
instantly returned, and continued circulating several
minutes with great rapidity, and then gradually disap-
peared as before. This experiment was repeated sev-
eral times, and always with the same result; the steam
always becoming visible when cold air was mixed with
it, and afterwards recovering its transparency when, part
of this air being expelled, that which remained had
acquired the temperature of the steam.

Finding that cold air introduced under the bottle
caused the steam to be partially condensed, and clouds
to be formed, I was desirous of seeing what visible
effects would be produced by introducing a cold solid
body under the bottle. I imagined that if steam was a
conductor of heat, some part of the heat in the steam
passing out of it into the cold body, clouds would of
course be formed ; but I thought if steam was a non-
conductor of heat, — that is to say, if one particle of
steam could not communicate any part of its heat to its
neighbouring particles, — in that case, as the cold body
could only affect the particles of steam actually in con-
tact with it, no cloud would appear ; and the result of
the experiment showed that steam is in fact a non-con-
ductor of heat. For, notwithstanding the cold body used
in this experiment was very large and very cold, being a
solid lump of ice nearly as large as a hen's egg, placed
in the middle of the hollow cavity under the bottle, upon
la small tripod or stand made of iron wire ; yet as soon
as the clouds which were formed in consequence of the
unavoidable introduction of cold air in lifting up the
bottle to introduce the ice were dissipated, which soon
happened, the steam became so perfectly transparent

54 Of the Management of Fire

and invisible that not the smallest appearance of cloudi-
ness was to be seen anywhere, not even about the ice,
which, as it went on to melt, appeared as clear and as
transparent as a piece of the finest rock crystal.

This experiment, which I first made at Florence, in
the month of November, 1793, was repeated several
times in the presence of Lord Palmerston, who was
then at Florence, and M. de Fontana.*

In these experiments the air was not entirely expelled
from under the bottle ; on the contrary, a considerable
quantity of it remained mixed with the steam even after
the clouds had totally disappeared, as I found by a par-
ticular experiment made with a view to ascertain that
fact. But that circumstance does not render the result
of this experiment less curious ; on the contrary, I think
it tends to make it more surprising. It should seem
that neither the mass of steam, nor that of air, were at
all cooled by the body of ice which they surrounded ; for

* The bottle made use of in this experiment, though it appeared very large
externally, contained but a very small quantity of water, owing to its bottom
being very much drawn inwards. As the hollow cavity under the bottom of the
bottle (which, as I just observed, was nearly in the form of a hemisphere, and 6
inches in diameter) served as a receiver for confining the steam which rose from
the boiling water in the plate, it may perhaps be imagined that a common glass
receiver in the form of a bell, such as are used in pneumatical experiments,
might answer as well as this bottle ; I thought so myself, but upon making the
experiment I found my mistake. A common receiver will answer perfectly well
for confining the steam, but the glass soon becomes so hot that the drops of
water which are formed upon its internal surface, in consequence of the con-
densation of the steam, instead of running down the sides of the receiver in clear
transparent streams, form blotches and streaks, which render the glass so opaque
that nothing can be seen distinctly through it ; and this of course completely
frustrates the main design of the experiment. But cold water in the bottle keep-
ing the glass cool, the condensation of the steam upon the sides of the hollow
cavity formed by the bottom of the bottle goes on more regularly, and the
streams of water which are continually running down the sides of the glass,
uniting together, form one transparent sheet of" water, by which means every
thing that goes on under the bottle may be distinctly seen.

and the Economy of Fuel. 55

if the air had been cooled (in mass), it seems highly
probable that the clouds would have returned.

The results of these experiments compared with
those formerly alluded to, in which I had endeavoured
to ascertain the most advantageous forms for boilers,
opened to me an entirely new field for speculation and
for improvement in the management of fire. They
shewed me that not only cold air, but also hot air and
hot steam, and hot mixtures of air and steam, are non-
conductors of heat; consequently that the hot vapour
which rises from burning fuel, and even the flame itself ^
is a non-conductor of heat.

This may be thought a bold assertion ; but a little
calm reflection, and a careful examination of the phe-
nomena which attend the combustion of fuel, and the
communication of heat by flame, will show it to be well-
founded ; and the advantages which may be derived
from the knowledge of this fact are of very great im-
portance indeed. But this subject deserves to be thor-
oughly investigated.

CHAPTER IV.

Of the MANNER in which HEAT is COMMUNICATED by
FLAME to other Bodies. — Flame acts on Bodies in
the same Manner as a hot Wind. — The Effect of a
Blowpipe in increasing the Activity of Flame ex-
plained, and illustrated by Experiments. — A Knowl-
edge of the Manner in which Heat is communicated
by Flame necessary in order to determine the most ad-

56 Of the Management of Fire

vantageous Forms for Boilers. — General Principles
on which Boilers of all Dimensions ought to be con-
structed.

IF flame be merely vapour, or a mixture of air and
steam heated red-hot, as air and steam are both non-
conductors of heat, there seems to be no difficulty in
conceiving that flame may, notwithstanding its great
degree of heat, still retain the properties of its compo-
nent fluids, and remain a non-conductor of heat. The
non-conducting power of air does not appear to be at all
impaired by being heated to the temperature of boiling
water; and I see no reason why that property in air, or
in any other elastic fluid, should be impaired by any
augmentation of temperature, however great. If steam,
or if air, at the temperature of 2 1 2 degrees of Fahren-
heit's thermometer, be a non-conductor of heat, why
should it not remain a non-conductor at that of 1000
degrees, or when heated red-hot ? I confess I do not
see how a body could be deprived of a property so essen-
tial, without being at the same time totally changed ;
and I believe nobody will imagine that either air or
steam undergoes any chemical change merely by being
heated to the temperature of red-hot iron. But without
insisting upon these reasonings, however conclusive I
may think them, I shall endeavour to show, from ex-
periment and observation, in short to prove, that flame
is in fact a non-conductor of heat.

Taking it for granted — what I imagine will not be
denied — that air is a non-conductor of heat, at least
in the sense I have used that appellation, I shall
endeavour to show that flame acts precisely in the
same manner as a hot wind would do in communicat-

and the Economy of Fuel. 57

ing heat, and in no other way ; and if I succeed in this,
I fancy I may consider the proposition as sufficiently
proved.

The effect of a blast of cold air in cooling any hot
body exposed to it is well known, and the causes of this
effect may easily be traced to that property of air which
renders it a non-conductor of heat ; for if the particles
of cold air in contact with a hot body could, with per-
fect facility, give the heat they acquire from the hot
body to other particles of air by which they are imme-
diately surrounded, and these again to others, and so
on, the heat would be carried off as fast as the hot body
could part with it, and any motion of the particles of
the air, any wind or blast, would not sensibly facilitate
or hasten the cooling of the body ; and by a parity of
reasoning it may be shown that, if flame were in fact a
perfect conductor of heat, any cold body plunged into
it would always be heated as fast as that body could
receive heat; and neither any motion of the internal
parts of the flame, nor the velocity with which it im-
pinged against the cold body, could have any sensible
effect either to facilitate or accelerate the heating of
the body. But if flame be a non-conductor of heat, its
action will be exactly similar to that of a hot wind, and
consequently much will depend upon the manner in
which it is applied to any body intended to be heated
by it. Those particles of it only which are in actual
contact with the body will communicate heat to it ; and
the greater the number of different particles of the
flame which are brought into contact with it, the greater
will be the quantity of heat communicated. Hence the
importance of causing the flame to impinge with force
against the body to be heated, and to strike it in such

58 Of the Management of Fire

a manner that its current may be broken, and that
whirlpools may be formed in it ; for the rapid motion
of the flame causes a quick succession of hot particles ;
and, admitting our assumed principles to be true, it is
quite evident that every kind of internal motion among
the particles of the flame by which it can be agitated
must tend very powerfully to accelerate the communi-
cation of the heat.

The effect of a blowpipe is well known, but I do
not think that the manner in which it increases the
action of flame has ever been satisfactorily explained.
It has generally been imagined, I believe, that the cur-
rent of fresh air which is forced through the flame by
a blowpipe actually increases the quantity of heat ; I
rather suppose it does little more than direct the heat
actually existing in the flame to a given point. A cur-
rent of air cannot generate heat without at the same
time being decomposed; and, in order to its being
decomposed in a fire, it must be brought into actual
contact with the burning fuel, or at least with the unin-
flamed inflammable vapour which rises from it. But
can it be supposed that there can be any thing inflam-
mable, and not actually inflamed, in the clear, bright,
and perfectly transparent flame of a wax candle ? A
blowpipe has however as sensible an effect, when
directed against the clear flame of a wax candle, as
when it is employed to increase the action of a common
glass-worker's lamp.

Conceiving that the discovery of the manner in
which the current of air from a blowpipe serves to
increase the intensity of the action of the flame could
not fail to throw much light upon the subject under
consideration, — namely, the investigation of the man-

and the Economy of Fuel. 59

ner in which heat is communicated to bodies by flame, —
I made the following experiments, the results of which
I conceive to be decisive.

Concluding that the current of air from a blowpipe,
directed against the flame of any burning body, could
tend to increase the intensity of the action of the flame
only in one or both of these two ways, — namely, by
increasing its action upon the body against which it is
directed, or by actually increasing the quantity of heat
generated in the combustion of the fuel, — a method
occurred to me by which I thought it possible to deter-
mine, by actual experiment, to which of these causes
the effect in question is owing, or how much each of
them might contribute to it. To do this, I filled a large
bladder, containing above a gallon, withy£*r#/<M>, which,
as is well known, is totally unfit for supporting the com-
bustion of inflammable bodies, and which, of course,
could not be suspected of adding any heat to a flame
against which a current of it should be directed. I
imagined therefore that if a blowpipe supplied with
this air, on being directed against the flame of a can-
dle, should be found to produce nearly the same effect
as when common air is used for the same purpose, it
would prove to a demonstration that the augmentation
of the intensity of the action, or activity of the flame
which arises from the use of a blowpipe, is owing to
the agitation of the flame, to its being directed to a
point, to the impetuosity with which it is made to
strike against the body which is heated by it, and
to the rapid succession of fresh particles of this hot
vapour, and not to any positive increase of heat.

A blowpipe being attached to the bladder containing
fixed air, the end of this pipe was directed to the clear

60 Of the Management of Fire

brilliant flame of a wax candle, which had just been
snuffed; and, by compressing the bladder, the flame
was projected against a small tube of glass, which was
very soon made red-hot, and even melted.

Having repeated this experiment several times, and
having found how long it required to melt the tube
when the flame of the candle was forced against it by
a blast of fixed air, I now varied the experiment, by
making use of common atmospheric air instead of
fixed air; taking care to employ the same candle and
the same blowpipe used in the former experiments,
and even making use of the bladder, in order that, the
experiments being exactly similar and differing only in
the kinds of air made use of, the effect of that differ-
ence might be discovered and estimated.

The results of these experiments were most perfectly
conclusive, and proved in a decisive manner that the
effect of a blowpipe, when applied to clear flame, arises
not from any real augmentation of heat, but merely
from the increased activity of the flame, in conse-
quence of its being impelled with force, and broken
in eddies on the surface of the body against which it
is made to act; the effect of the blowpipe on these
experiments being to all appearance quite as great
when fixed air was made use of (which could not
increase the quantity of heat), as when atmospheric
air was used.

But, conceiving the determination of this question rel-
ative to the manner in which flame communicates heat
to be a matter of much importance, I did not rest my
inquiries here. I repeated the experiments very often,
and varied them in a great number of different ways,
sometimes making use of fixed air, sometimes of atmos-

and the Economy of Fuel. 61

pheric air, and at other times using dephlogisticated air,
and common air rendered unfit for the support of ani-
mal life and of combustion, by burning a candle in it
till the candle went out.

It would take up too much time to give an account
in detail of all these experiments. I shall therefore
content myself with merely observing that they all
tended to show that the effect of a blowpipe used in
the manner here described is owing to the direction and
velocity it gives to the flame against which it is em-
ployed, and not to any real increase of heat.

It must be remembered that the principal object I
had in view in these experiments was to discover the
manner in which flame communicates heat to other
bodies, and by what means that communication may be
facilitated. Were it required to increase the intensity
of the heat by blowing the fire, the current of ' air must
be applied in such a manner as to expedite the com-
bustion : it must be directed to the inflamed surface of
the burning fuel, and not to the red-hot vapour or flame
which rises from it, and in which the combustion is
most probably already quite complete ; and in this case
there is no doubt but the effect produced by blowing
would depend much upon the quality of the air made
use of.

The results of the foregoing experiments with the
blowpipe will, I am confident, be thought quite conclu-
sive by those who will take the trouble to consider them
attentively; and the advantages that may be derived
from the knowledge of the fact established by them are
very obvious. If flame, or the hot vapour which arises
from burning bodies, be a non-conductor of heat ; and
if, in order to communicate its heat to any other body,

62 Of the Management of Fire

it be necessary that its particles individually be brought
into actual contact with that body, it is evident that the
form of a boiler, and of its fire-place, must be matters
of much importance ; and that that form must be most
advantageous which is best calculated to produce an
internal motion in the flame, and to bring alternately
as many of its particles as possible into contact with the
body which is to be heated by it. The boiler must not
only have as large a surface as possible, but it must be
of such a form as to cause the flame which embraces it
to impinge against it with force, to break against it, and
to play over its surface in eddies and whirlpools.

It is therefore against the bottom of a boiler, and not
against its sides, that .the principal efforts of the flame
must be directed ; for when the flame, or hot vapour,
is permitted to rise freely by the vertical sides of a
boiler, it slides over its surface very rapidly, and, there
being no obstacle in the way to break the flame into
eddies and whirlpools, it glides quietly on like a stream
of water in a smooth canal ; and the same hot par-
ticles of this vapour which happen to be in immediate
contact with the sides of the boiler at its bottom or
lower extremity, being continually pressed against the
surface of the boiler as they are forced upwards by the
rising current, prevent other hot particles from approach-
ing the boiler ; so that by far the greatest part of the heat
in the flame and hot vapour which rise from the fire,
instead of entering the boiler, goes off into the atmos-
phere by the chimney, and is totally lost.

The amount of this loss of heat, arising from the
faulty construction of boilers and their fire-places, may
be estimated from the results of the experiments re-
corded in the following chapter.

and the Economy of Fuel. 63

CHAPTER V.

An Account of Experiments made with Boilers and
Fire-places of various Forms and Dimensions ; to-
gether with Remarks and Observations on their
Results, and on the Improvements that may be de-
rived from them. — An Account of some Experi-
ments made on a very large Scale in a Brew house
Boiler. — An Account of a Brewhouse Boiler con-
structed and Jitted up on an improved Plan. —
Results of several Experiments which were made
with this new Boiler. — Of the Advantage in regard
to the Economy of Fuel in boiling Liquids, which
arises from performing that Process on a large
Scale. — These Advantages are limited. — An Ac-
count of an Alteration which was made in the new
Brewhouse Boiler, with a view to the SAVING OF
TIME in causing its Contents to boil. — Experi-
ments showing the Effects produced by these Altera-
tions. — An Estimate of the RELATIVE QUANTITIES
OF HEAT producible from COKES, PIT-COAL, CHAR-
COAL, and OAK. — A Method of Estimating the
Quantity of Pit-coal which would be necessary to
perform any of the Processes mentioned in this
Essay, in which Wood was used as Fuel. — An
Estimate of the TOTAL QUANTITIES of Heat produ-
cible in the Combustion of different Kinds of Fuel ;
and of the real Quantities of Heat which are lost,
under various Circumstances, in culinary Processes.

WHAT has been said in the foregoing chapter
will, I trust, be sufficient to give my reader a

64 Of the Management of Fire

clear and distinct idea of the subject under consid-
eration in all its various details and connections, and
enable him to comprehend without the smallest diffi-
culty every thing I have to add on this subject ; and
particularly to discover the different objects I had in
view in the experiments of which I am now about to
vgive an account, and to judge with facility and certainty
of the conclusions I have drawn from their results.

These experiments, though they occupy so many
pages in this Essay, are but a small part of those I have
made, and caused to be made under my direction, on
the subject of heat, during the last seven years. Were
I to publish them all, with all their details as they are
recorded in the register that has been kept of them,
they would fill several volumes.

It was most fortunate for me that this register is very
voluminous ; for, had it not been so, I should in all
probability have taken it with me to England last year,
and in that case I should have lost it, with the rest of
my papers, in the trunk of which I was robbed in pass-
ing through St. Paul's churchyard, on my arrival in
London after an absence of eleven years.*

As I foresaw, when I first began my inquiries respect-
ing heat, that I should have occasion to make many
experiments on boiling liquids, to facilitate the register-
ing of them I formed a table (which J had printed), in
which, under various heads, every circumstance relative
to any common experiment of the kind in question
could be entered with much regularity, and with little
trouble.

* I have many reasons to think that these papers are still in being: What
an everlasting obligation should I be under to the person who would cause them
to be returned to me !

and the Economy of Fuel. 65

As this table may be useful to others who may be
engaged in similar pursuits, and as the publishing of it
will also tend to give my reader a more perfect idea of
the manner in which my experiments were conducted, I
shall (as an example) give an account of one experiment
in the same form in which it was registered in one of
these printed tables.

These tables, as they are printed for use (on detached
sheets), occupy one side of half a sheet of common folio
writing paper.

Every thing in this table, except such figures and
words as are printed between crotchets, is contained in
the printed forms. Hence it is evident how much these
tables tend to diminish the trouble of registering the
results of experiments of this kind, and also to prevent
mistakes.

The example I have here given is an account of
an experiment in which a very large quantity of water,
equal to 15,590 Ibs. avoirdupois in weight, or 1866 wine
gallons of 231 cubic inches each; but it is evident that
these tables answer equally well for the small quantity
contained by the smallest saucepan.

The height of the barometer is expressed in Paris
inches ; that of the thermometer, in degrees of Fahren-
heit's scale. The other measures, as well of length as
of capacity, are the common measures of the country
(Bavaria); and the weight is expressed in Bavarian
pounds, of which 100 make 123.84 Ibs. avoirdupois.

What is entered under the head of GENERAL RE-
SULTS OF THE EXPERIMENT requires no explanation;
but what I have called the PRECISE RESULT must be
explained.

Having frequent occasion to compare the results of

66

Of the Management of Fire

•s §

Ill

ructed of
r, 8176 me

3 o ^J

I
^

|

3

t. Was
tained of

a

K
II

,

P-I w

Ti

T3 *&

i II
g ll

«

' °

°

1

-a-d

II

|§
li

Hfe

-o^«

III

I!*-

11

°Q°0

\O t^

MnoH

1 2 | | = | I I 1 2

1 -

and the Economy of Fuel. 67

experiments made at different times and in different
seasons of the year, as the temperature of the water
in the boiler when the fire is lighted under it is seldom
the same in any two experiments, and as the boiling
heat varies with the variations of the pressure of the
atmosphere, or of the height of the mercury in the
barometer, it became necessary to make proper allow-
ances for these differences. This I thought could best
be done by determining, by computation, from the
number of degrees the water was actually heated, and
the quantity of fuel consumed in heating it that num-
ber of degrees, how much fuel would have been
required to have it heated 180 degrees, or from the
point of freezing to that of boiling water (the boiling
point being taken equal to the temperature indicated
by 212° of Fahrenheit's thermometer, which is the
boiling point under the mean pressure of the atmos-
phere at the surface of the sea). Then, by dividing
the weight of the water used in the experiment (ex-
pressed in pounds) by the weight of the fuel expressed
in pounds necessary to heat it 180 degrees, or from
the temperature of freezing to that of boiling water:
this gives the number of pounds of ice-cold water
which (according to the result of the given experi-
ment) might have been made to boil, with the heat
generated in the combustion of i Ib. of the fuel, under
the mean pressure of the atmosphere at the level of the
surface of the sea.

The city of Munich, where all the experiments were
made of which I am about to give an account, being
situated almost in the centre of Germany, lies very high
above the level of the sea. The mean height of the
mercury in the barometer is only about 28 English

68 Of the Management of Fire

inches, consequently water boils at Munich at a lower
temperature than at London. The difference is even
too considerable to be neglected: it amounts to 2*
degrees of Fahrenheit's scale, being 209^ degrees at
a medium at Munich, and 212 degrees in all places
situated near the level of the sea. To render the
results of my experiments and computations more sim-
ple and more generally useful, I shall always make due
allowance for this difference.

Having, from the actual result of each experiment,
made a computation on the principles here described,
showing what (for the want of a better expression) I
have called the precise result of the experiment, it is
evident that these computations show very accurately
the comparative merit of the mechanical arrangements,
and the management of the fire in conducting the ex-
periments, in as far as relates to the economy of fuel ;
for the more ice-cold water that can be made to boil
with the heat generated in the combustion of any given
quantity (i Ib. for instance) of fuel, the more perfect
of course (other things being equal) must be the con-
struction of the fire-place.

Under the head of PRECISE RESULT I have some-
times added another computation, showing how much
" boiling-hot water " might, according to the result of
the given experiment, be kept boiling " one hour " with
the heat generated in the combustion of " i Ib. of the
fuel." Though I have called this a precise result, it
is evident that in most cases it cannot be considered as
being very exact, owing to the difficulty of estimating
the quantity of fuel in the fire-place, which is uncon-
sumed at the moment when the water begins to boil.

In the foregoing example, in making this computa-

and the Economy of Fuel. 69

tion I supposed that, when the water began to boil,
there was wood enough in the fire-place unconsumed
to keep the water boiling 43 minutes, and that the
wood added afterwards (100 Ibs.) kept the water boil-
ing the remainder of the time it boiled, or just 2
hours.

In most cases, however, to save trouble in making
these computations, I have supposed that all the wood
employed in making the water boil is entirely consumed
in that process, and that all the heat expended in keep-
ing the water boiling is furnished by the fuel which is
added after the water had begun to boil. This suppo-
sition is evidently erroneous ; but, as the computation
in question can at best give but an inaccurate and
doubtful result, labour bestowed on it would be thrown
away. But, imperfect as these rough estimates are,
they will however in many cases be found useful.

In giving an account of the following experiments,
I shall not place them exactly in the order in which
they were made, but shall arrange them in such a man-
ner as I shall think best, in order that the information
derived from their results may appear in a clear point
of view.

For greater convenience in referring to them, I shall
number them all ; and as I have already given num-
bers to the four I mentioned in the first chapter of this
Essay, I shall proceed in regular order with the rest.

Experiment No. 5. — The first kitchen of the House
of Industry at Munich has already been described in
the first chapter of this Essay ; and it was there men-
tioned that the daily expense of fuel in that kitchen,
when food (peas-soup) was prepared for 1000 persons,
amounted to 300 Ibs. in weight of dry beech-wood.

70 Of the Management of Fire

Now as each portion of soup consisted of i lb., this
gives 0.3 of a pound of wood for each pound of soup.

Experiment No. 6. — The first kitchen of the House
of Industry having been pulled down, it was afterwards
rebuilt on a different principle. Instead of copper
boilers, iron boilers of a hemispherical form were now
used, and each of these boilers had its own separate
closed fire-place ; the boiler being suspended by its
rim in the brick-work, and room being left for the flame
to play all round it. The smoke went off into the
chimney by an horizontal canal, 5 inches wide and 5
inches high, which was concealed in the mass of brick-
work, and which opened into the fire-place on the
side opposite to the opening by which the fuel was
introduced.

The fire was made on a flat iron grate placed directly
under the boiler, and distant from its bottom about 1 2
inches. The ash-pit door was furnished with a reg-
ister; but there was no damper to the canal by which
the smoke went off into the chimney, which was a
very great defect. The opening into the fire-place was
closed by an iron door. Each of these iron boilers
weighed about 148 Ibs. avoirdupois, was 25! Eng-
lish inches in diameter, and 14.935 inches deep, and
contained 190!- Ibs. Bavarian weight of water, equal to
235.91 Ibs. avoirdupois, or about 28^ English wine-
gallons.

From this account of the manner in which these iron
boilers were fitted up, it is evident that the arrangement
was not essentially different from that of kitchens for
hospitals as they are commonly constructed.

From experiments made with care, and often re-
peated, I found that to prepare 89 portions (or 89 Ibs.

and the Economy of Fuel. 71

Bavarian weight) of peas-soup in one of these boilers,
43 Ibs. of dry beech-wood were required as fuel, and
that the process lasted four hours and a half. This
gives 0.483 of a pound of wood for each pound of the
soup.

In the first arrangement of this kitchen, only 0.3 of
a pound of wood was required to prepare i Ib. of soup.
Hence it appears that the kitchen had not been im-
proved, considered with a view to the economy of
fuel, by the alterations which had been made in
it. This was what I expected ; for the object I had in
view in constructing this kitchen was not to save fuel,
but to find out how much of it is wasted in culinary
processes, as they are commonly performed on a large
scale in hospitals and other institutions of public char-
ity. Till I knew this, it was not in my power to esti-
mate, with any degree of precision, the advantages of
any improvements I might introduce in the construc-
tion of kitchen fire-places.

To determine in how far the quantity of fuel neces-
sary in any given culinary process depends on the form
of the fire-place (the boiler and every other circum-
stance remaining the same), I made the following ex-
periments.

Experiments Nos. 7 and 8. — Two of the iron boil-
ers in the kitchen of the House of Industry (which, as
they were both cast from the same model, were as near
alike as possible) being chosen for this experiment, one
of them (No. 8) being taken out of the brick-work, its
fire-place was altered and fitted up anew on improved
principles. The grate was made circular and concave,
and its diameter was reduced to 1 2 inches ; the fire-
place was made cylindrical above the grate, and only

72 Of the Management of Fire

1 2 inches in diameter ; and the boiler being seated on
the top of the wall of this cylindrical fire-place, the
flame, passing through a small opening on one side
of the fire-place, at the top of it, made one complete
turn about the boiler before it was permitted to go off
into the canal by which the smoke passed off into the
chimney.

Though there was no damper in this canal, yet as its
entrance or opening, where it joined the canal which
went round the boiler, was considerably reduced in size,
this answered (though imperfectly) the purpose of a
damper. This fire-place being completed, and a small
fire having been kept up in it for several days to dry
the masonry, the experiment was made by preparing
the same quantity of the same kind of soup in this and
in a neighbouring boiler whose fire-place had not been
altered.

The food cooked in each was 89 Ibs. of peas-soup ;
and the experiment was begun and finished in both
boilers at the same time.

The wood employed as fuel was pine ; and it had
been thoroughly dried in an oven the day before it was
used.

The boilers were both kept constantly covered with
their double covers, except only when the soup was
stirred about to prevent its burning to the bottoms of
the boilers.

and the Economy of Fuel.

73

The result of this interesting experiment was as fol-
lows : —

Experiment

NO.T.

Experiment
No. 8.

Quantity of wood consumed in cooking 89
Ibs. Bavarian weight of peas-soup . . .

In the boiler
No. i.

In the boiler
No. 8,
with the im-
proved fire-
place.

37 Ibs.

14 Ibs.

These experiments were made on the yth of Novem-
ber, 1 794. On repeating them the next day with pine-
wood, which had not been previously dried in an oven,
the result was as follows : —

Experiments Nos. 9 and 10.

Quantity of wood consumed in cooking
89 Ibs. of peas-soup

Experiment
No. 9.

Experiment

In the Boiler
No. i.

In the Boiler
No. 8,
with the im-
proved Fire-
place.

39 Ibs.

16 Ibs.

The first remark I shall make on the results of these
experiments is the proof they afford, by comparing them
with that which preceded them (No. 6), of the important
fact that pine-wood affords more heat in its combustion
than beech. This fact is the more extraordinary, as it
is directly contrary to the opinion generally entertained
on that subject ; and it is the more important, as the price
of pine-wood is in most places only about half as high

74 Of 'the Management of Fire

as that of beech, when the quantities, estimated by weight,
are equal.

In the Experiment No. 6 it was found that 43 Ibs. of
dry beech-wood were necessary when used as fuel, to
prepare 89 Ibs. of peas-soup. In the Experiment No. 7,
the same process was performed with 37 Ibs., and in the
Experiment No. 9 with 39 Ibs., of dry pine. But I shall
have occasion to treat this subject more at length in
another place. In the mean time I would, however,
just observe, that all my experiments have uniformly
tended to confirm the fact that dry pine-wood affords
more heat in combustion than dry beech. I have
reason to think the difference is in fact greater than
the experiments before us indicate ; but the apparent
amount of it will always depend in a great measure on
the circumstances under which the fuel is consumed,
or, in other words, on the construction of the fire-place ;
and it is no small advantage attending the fire-places I
shall recommend, that they are so contrived as to in-
crease as much as it is possible the superiority of the
most common and cheapest fire-wood over that which
is more scarce and costly.

By comparing the results of these two sets of Experi-
ments (Nos. 7 and 8, Nos. 9 and 10), an estimate may be
made of the advantage of using very dry wood for fuel,
instead of making use of wood that has been less thor-
oughly dried ; but, as I mean to take an opportunity of
investigating that matter also more carefully hereafter, I
shall not at present enlarge on it farther than just to
observe that as the wood, which was dried in an oven,
was weighed for use after it had been dried, and as it
certainly weighed more before it was put into the oven,
the real saving arising from using it in this dried state

and the Economy of Fuel. 75

is not so great as the difference in the weights of the
quantities of wood used in the two experiments. To
estimate that saving with precision, the wood should be
weighed before it is dried, or in the same state in which
the other parcel of wood, which is used without being
dried, is weighed.

But to proceed to the principal object I had in view
in these experiments, — the determination of the effects
of the difference in the construction of the two fire-
places, — the difference in the quantity of fuel expended
in the two fire-places, in performing the same process,
shows, in a manner which does not stand in need of any
illustration, how much had been gained by the improve-
ments which had been introduced.

Conceiving it to be an object of great importance to
ascertain by actual experiment, and with as much pre-
cision as possible, the real amount of the advantages,
in regard to the economy of fuel, that may be derived
from improvements in the forms of fire-places, I did not
content myself with improving from time to time the
kitchens I had constructed, but I took pains to deter-
mine how much I had gained by each alteration that
was made. This was necessary, not only to furnish
myself with more forcible arguments to induce others
to adopt my improvements, but also to satisfy myself
with regard to the progress I made in my investiga-
tions.

In the first arrangement of the kitchen of the Mili-
tary Academy, the boilers were suspended by their rims
in the brick-work in such a manner that the flame could
pass freely all round them, and the smoke went off in
horizontal canals which led to the chimney, but which
were not furnished with dampers.

76 Of the Management of Fire

The fire was made on a flat square iron grate ; and
the internal diameter of the fire-place was 2 or 3 inches
larger than the diameter .of the boiler which belonged
to it. The bottom of the boiler was from 6 to 10 or 12
inches (according to its size) above the level of the grate ;
and the door of the opening into the fire-place by which
the fuel was introduced was kept constantly closed.
The ash-pit door was furnished with a register, and the
boilers were all furnished with double covers.

Having, in consequence of the progress I had made
in my inquiries respecting the management of heat
and the economy of fuel, come to a resolution to pull
down this kitchen, and rebuild it on an improved prin-
ciple ; previous to its being demolished, I made several
very accurate experiments to determine the real ex-
pense of fuel in the fire-places as they then existed,
with all their faults ; and when the new arrangement of
the kitchen was completed, I repeated these experiments
with the same boilers ; and by comparing the results of
these two sets of experiments, I was able to estimate
with great precision the real amount of the saving of
time as well as of fuel, which was derived from the
improvements I had introduced.

After all that has been said (and perhaps already too
often repeated in different parts of this Essay) on the
construction of fire-places, my reader will be able to
form a clear and just idea of the construction of those
of which I am now speaking (those of the kitchen of the
Military Academy, in its present improved state), when
he is told that the fire burns on a circular concave iron
grate, about half the diameter of the circular boiler
which belongs to the fire-place ; that the fire-place,
properly so called, is a cylindrical cavity in the solid

and the Economy of Fuel. 77

brick-work which supports the boiler, equal in diameter
to the circular grate, and from 6 to 10 inches high, more
or less according to the size of the boiler ; that the boiler
is set down on the top of the circular wall which forms
this fire-place, — a small opening from 3 to 4 or 5 inches
in length taken horizontally, and about 2 or 3 inches
high, being left on one side of this wall at the top of it,
that the flame which burns up under the middle of the
bottom of the boiler may afterwards pass round (in a
spiral canal constructed for that purpose) under that
part of the bottom of the boiler which lies without the
top of the wall of the fire-place on which the boiler
reposes. The flame having made one complete turn
under the boiler in this spiral canal, it rises upwards,
and, going once round the sides of the boiler, goes off by
a horizontal canal, furnished with a damper, into the
chimney. *

In order that the top of the circular wall of the fire-
place on which the boiler is seated may not cover too
much of the bottom of the boiler, its thickness is sud-
denly reduced in that part (that is to say, just where it
touches the boiler) to about half an inch.

The opening by which the fuel is introduced into the
fire-place is a conical hole in a piece of fire-stone, which
hole is closed by a fit stopper made of the same kind of
stone. The ash-pit door and its register are finished
with so much nicety that, when they are quite closed,
the fire almost instantaneously goes out.

The dimensions of the boiler, in which the experi-
ments of which I am about to give an account were
made, are as follows : —

Diameter J jjek)w ' ^^ I inches, English measure.
Depth ...... 14.52 )

78 Of the Management of Fire

It weighs 37 Ibs. avoirdupois ; and it contains, when
quite full, about 73 Ibs. avoirdupois, equal to 81 gallons
(wine-measure) of water.

In two experiments with this boiler, which were both
made by myself, and in which attention was paid to every
circumstance that could tend to render them perfect, the
results were as follows: —

Experiment

Experiment

No. ii.

No. 12.

The first fire-

The improved

place.

fire-place.

Quantity of water in the boiler, in Bavarian

Abounds

4. -3 6^ Ibs

47 6^ Ibs

Temperature of the warter in the boiler at

^JO'^J lUa.

«}3*U3 1L'^*

the beginning of the experiment . . .
Time employed in making the water boil
Wood consumed in making the water boil

59°
67 m.

60°

30 m.

in Bavarian pounds

9 Ibs.

3 Ibs.

Time the water continued boiling . . .

2 h. 2m.

3h-

Wood added to keep the water boiling ,

5 Ibs.

2* Ibs.

Kind of wood used

Pine.

Pine.

Precise Results.

Ice-cold water heated 180 degrees, or made

to boil with i Ib of wood .

4.02 Ibs.

1 1.93 Ibs.

Boiling-hot water kept boiling i hour, with

I Ib. of wood

17.74 Ibs.

52.36 Ibs.

The following experiments were made with two cop-
per boilers (Nos. I and 2) nearly of the same dimen-
sions, in the kitchen of the Military Academy at Munich,
in the present improved state of that kitchen. These
boilers are round and deep, and weigh each about 62 Ibs.
avoirdupois. They belonged originally to the kitchen
of the House of Industry, being two of the eight boilers
which, in the first arrangement of that kitchen, were
heated by the same fire.

and the Economy of Fuel.

79

Their exact dimensions, measured in English inches,
are as follows : —

The boiler

No. i.

The hotter
No. 2.

c above

Inches.
2266

Inches.
2266

Diameter J gj£ \-.\-\\.\\\

1982

2O 85

Depth

At the beginning of each of the following experi-
ments, each of these boilers contained just 95 measures
(or Bavarian maasse) of water, weighing 187 Ibs. Bava-
rian weight (equal to 232.58 Ibs. avoirdupois), or a trifle
less than 28 gallons.

The grate on which the fire was made under each of
these boilers is circular and concave, and 1 1 inches in
diameter ; and their fire-places are in all respects similar
to that just described (Experiment No. 1 1). Both boilers
are furnished with double covers.

8o

Of the Management of Fire

The experiments made with the boiler No. i, and
their results, were as follows: —

Exp.

No. 13.

Exp.

No. 14.

Exp.

No. 15.

Exp.

No. t6.

Quantity of water in the
boiler in the beginning of
the experiment ....
Temperature of the water
in the boiler at the be-
ginning of the experi-

Ibs.

187

61°

Ibs.

187

CQ°

Ibs.
187

64°

Ibs.

I87
ccA°

Time employed in making
the water boil ....
Wood consumed in making
the water boil ....
Time the water continued
to boil . . .

m.
78
Ibs.

12

m.

17

m.
61
Ibs.
ii
m.
28

m.
61
Ibs.

9
m.
6

m.
62
Ibs.
8
h. m.

2 IQ

Quantity of fuel added to
keep it boiling this time .
Kind of wood used as fuel

Precise Results of the Ex-
periments,

Ice-cold water heated 180°,
or made to boil with the
heat generated in the
combustion of I Ib. of the
fuel

Beech.

Ibs.
12.89

Beech.

Ibs.
14.. I?

Pine.

Ibs.
1689

Ibs.
4
Pine.

Ibs.
20

Boiling water kept boiling
one hour, with the heat
generated in the combus-
tion of i Ib. of the wood .

Ibs.
108.40

All the foregoing experiments were made on the same
day (the i3th of October, 1794), and in the same order
in which they are numbered.

and the Economy of Fuel.

81

The following are the results of the experiments
made with the boiler No. 2 : —

Exp.

No. 17.

Exp.
No. z8.

Exp.

No. 19.

Exp.
No. 20.

Exp.
No. 21.

Quantity of water in the

boiler at the beginning

of the experiment, in

Ibs.

Ibs.

Ibs.

Ibs.

Ibs.

Bavarian pounds .

187

187

187

187

187

Temperature of the water

in the boiler at the be-

ginning of the experi-
ment

61°

i;80

60°

0

212°

Time employed in making
the water boil ....

m.

j^>
m.

55

m.

57

m.
60

Wood consumed in mak-

Ibs.

Ibs.

Ibs.

Ibs.

ing the water boil . .

ii

ii

9

8

—

Time the water continued

m.

m.

m.

h. m.

h. m.

to boil

21

17

8

2 2Q

I IO

Wood added to keep the

Ib.

*y

Ibs.

water boiling ....

i

—

—

3*

ii

Kind of wood used . .

Beech.

Beech.

Pine.

Pine.

Beech.

Precise Results.

Ice - cold water heated

1 80°, or made to boil,

Ibs.

Ibs.

Ibs.

Ibs.

with i Ib. of wood . .

13.92

14-33

17-59

20.10

—

Boiling-hot water kept

boiling one hour with I

Ibs.

Ibs.

Ib. of wood ....

•— •

-~-

—

132.68

145.44

This set of experiments was made at the same time
with the foregoing set, namely, on the I3th October,
1 794, and they were made in the order in which they
are here registered. In the last but one (No. 20), the
economy of fuel in the process of heating water was
carried farther than in any other experiment I have
ever made.

In the following experiments, which were made in a
large copper boiler fitted up on my most improved
principles, belonging to the kitchen of the House of
Industry, the economy of fuel was carried nearly as far.

82 Of the Management of Fire

This boiler, which is circular, is 42^ English inches
in diameter above, 42.17 inches in diameter below,
and 18.54 inches. deep. It weighs 78^ Ibs. avoirdupois ;
and contains, when quite full, 714 Ibs. Bavarian weight
(= 884 Ibs. avoirdupois, or 106 gallons) of water, at the
temperature of 55°.

It is surrounded above by a wooden ring about 2
inches in thickness, into which it is fitted; and in this
ring, in a groove about £ of an inch deep, is fitted
a circular wooden flat cover. This cover is formed in
three pieces, united by iron hinges ; and one of these
pieces being fastened down by hooks to the boiler, the
other two are so contrived as to be folded back upon it
occasionally. From the upper surface of the part of
the cover which is 'fastened down on the boiler, a tin
tube 2 inches in diameter, furnished with a damper, is
fixed, by which the steam is carried off into a narrow
wooden tube, which conducts it through an opening in
the roof of the house into the open air.

To prevent still more effectually the escape of the
heat through the wooden cover of the boiler, the upper
surface of it is protected from the cold atmosphere by
a thick circular blanket covered on both sides by strong
canvas, which is occasionally thrown over it.

Though the diameter of this boiler below is more
than 40 inches, the diameter of its fire-place (which is
just under its centre) is only 1 1 inches ; but as the flame
makes two complete turns under the bottom of the
boiler in a spiral canal, and one turn round it, the time
required to heat it is not so great as, from the smallness
of its fire-place, might have been expected.

It has ever been, and still continues to be, the decided
favorite of the cook-maids.

and the Economy of Fuel. 83

The wood used as fuel in the following experiment
was pine moderately dried. The billets were 6 inches
long, and from i to 2 inches in diameter.

The following table shows the results of five experi-
ments that were made with this boiler by myself, just
after it was fitted up : —

Exp.

NO. 22.

Exp.
No. 23.

Exp.
No. 24.

Exp.
No. 25.

Exp.
No. 26.

Quantity of water in

the boiler, in Bava-

Ibs.

Ibs.

Ibs.

Ibs.

Ibs.

rian pounds . . .

508

127

254

508

508

Temperature of the

water at the begin-

ning of the experi-

ment

48°

48°

06°

48°

48°

Time required to make

h. m.

m.

i
h. m.

i

h. m.

h. m.

the water boil . . .

2 4

51

i 15

2 35

3 i

Fuel employed to make

Ibs.

Ibs.

Ibs.

Ibs.

Ibs.

the water boil . . .

24*

8^ •

I2f

25

24

Time the water con-

h.

h.

tinued boiling . .

3

— .

3

—

Fuel added to keep the

Ibs.

Ibs.

water boiling . . .

6H

—

4

—

Precise Results of the

Experiments.

With the heat gener-

ated in the combus-

tion of i Ib. of the

fuel,

Ice-cold water heated

Ibs.

Ibs.

Ibs.

Ibs.

Ibs.

1 80°, or made to boil

18.87

12.74

12.69

17.48

19.01

Or boiling-hot water
kept boiling one hour

236.61

—

338.66

—

Without stopping to make any observations on the
results of these experiments (though they afford matter
for several of an interesting nature), I shall proceed to
give a brief account of another set of experiments, on
a much larger scale, which were made in the copper
boiler of a brewery belonging to the Elector.

84 Of the Management of Fire

This boiler, which is rectangular, is 10 feet long,
8 feet wide, and 4 feet deep, Bavarian measure* and
contains 8176 Bavarian maasse, or measures, equal to
1866 gallons wine-measure. On examining this boiler,
I found its fire-place was constructed on very bad prin-
ciples ; and on inquiring respecting the quantity of
fire-wood consumed in it, I found the 'waste of fuel to
be very great.

This brewery is used for making small white beer (as
from its pale colour it is called) from malt made of
wheat; and as it is worked all the year round, the
expense of fuel was very great, and the economy of it
an object of considerable importance.

The quantity of fire-wood (pine) that had at an aver-
age been consumed daily in this brewery was rather
more than four Bavarian klafters, or cords. On alter-
ing the fire-place of this brewery, and putting a (wooden)
cover to the boiler, I reduced this 'expense to less than
1 4 klafters.

In the new fire-place which I caused to be con-
structed for this boiler, the cavity under the boiler .is
divided into three flues, by thin brick walls which run
in the direction of the length of the boiler. The mid-
dle flue, which is twice as wide as one of the side flues,
is occupied by the burning fuel, and is furnished with
a grate 20 inches wide, and 6 inches long ; and the
opening by which the fuel is introduced into the fire-
place is closed by two iron doors, placed one behind
the other, at the distance of 8 inches. The grate,
which is placed at the hither end of the fire-place, is
horizontal ; and it is situated about 20 inches below the
bottom of the boiler. The air which serves to feed

* 100 Bavarian inches are equal to 95$ inches English measure.

and the Economy of Fuel. 85

the fire is let in under the grate through a register in
the ash-pit door.

When the double doors which close the entrance
into the fire-place are shut, the flame of the burning
fuel first rises perpendicularly against the bottom of the
boiler ; it then passes along to the farther end of the
(middle) flue, which constitutes the fire-place, where it
separates, and returns in the two side flues ; it then
rises up into two horizontal flues (one situated over the
other) which go all round the boiler ; and, having made
the circuit of the boiler, it goes off into separate canals
(furnished with dampers) into the chimney.

Though the Figures 17 and 18, Plate III., are not
drawings from the fire-place I am now describing, but
of another which I shall soon have occasion to describe,
yet an inspection of these figures will be found useful
in forming an idea of the principles on which the fire-
place in question was constructed, and on that account
I shall occasionally refer to them.

The burning fuel being confined within a narrow
compass, being well supplied with fresh air, and
being surrounded on all sides by thin walls of brick
(which are non-conductors), the heat of the fire is most
intense, and the combustion of the fuel of course very
complete. The flame, which is clear and vivid in the
highest degree, and perfectly unmixed with smoke, runs
rapidly along the bottom of the boiler (which forms the
top of the flues), and from the resistance it meets with
in its passage, from friction, and from the number of
turns it is obliged to make, it is thrown into innumer-
able eddies and whirlpools, and really affords a most
entertaining spectacle.

That I might be able to enjoy at my ease this amus-

86 Of the Management of Fire

ing sight, I caused a glass window to be made in the
front wall of the fire-place, through which I could look
into the fire when the fire-place doors were shut ; and
I was well paid for the trouble and the trifling expense
I had in getting it executed.

Some may be tempted to smile at what they may
think a childish invention ; but there are many others,
I am confident, and among these many grave philoso-
phers, who would have been very glad to have shared
my amusement.

The window of which I am speaking is circular, and
only 6 inches in diameter ; but as the hole in the wall
is conical, and much larger within than without, the
field of this window (if I may use the expression) is suf-
ficiently large to afford a good view of what passes in
the fire-place.

This conical hole is represented in the Figures 18
and 2 1 by dotted lines. It is situated on the left hand
of the entrance into the fire-place. Into the opening of
the hole in the wall, on the outside of it, is fixed a short
tube of copper (about 6 inches in diameter, and 4 inches
long) ; and in this tube another short movable tube is
fitted, one end of which is closed by the circular plate
of glass which constitutes the window. As the wall of
the fire-place in front is thick, this pane of glass is at
a considerable distance from the burning fuel, and, as
there is no draught through the hole in the wall, the
glass does not grow very hot.

I have been the more particular in my description of
this little invention, as I think it may be useful. There
are many cases in which it would be very advantageous
to know exactly what is going on in a closed fire-place,
and this never can be known by opening the door ; for

and the Economy of Fuel. 87

the instant the door is opened, the cold air rushing with
impetuosity into the fire-place deranges entirely the
whole economy of the fire. Besides this, it is frequently
very disadvantageous to the process which is going on
to open the door of a fire-place, and it is always attended
with a certain loss of heat, and consequently should as
much as possible be avoided.

I intimated that the window I have been describing
afforded me amusement : it did still more, — it afforded
me much useful information, it gave me an opportunity
of observing the various internal motions into which
flame may, by proper management of the machinery of
a fire-place, be thrown, and of estimating with some
degree of precision their different effects. In short, it
made me better acquainted with the subject which had
so long engaged my attention, — fire ; and with regard to
that subject, nothing surely that is new can be uninter-
esting. But to return to the brewery. To the top of
the boiler was fitted a curb of oak timber. The four
straight beams of which this curb was constructed are
each about 7 inches thick, and 1 5 inches wide ; and the
upper part of the boiler is fastened by large copper
nails to the inside of the square frame formed by these
four beams. From the top of this curb is raised a
wooden building, like the roof of a house with a double
slant or bevel, which serves as a cover to the boiler.
This building, the sides of which are about 3 feet high
inwards, and the top of which is covered in by a very flat
roof, slanting on every side from the centre, is con-
structed of a light frame-work of timber (four-inch deal
joists), which is covered within as well as without with
thin deal boards, which are rabbeted into each other
at their edges, to render the cover which this little
edifice forms for the boiler as tight as possible.

88 Of the Management of Fire

From the top of this cover an open wooden tube
(m, Fig. 17), about 12 inches in diameter, rises up per-
pendicularly, and going through the roof of the brew-
house ends in the open air. This tube, which is
furnished with a wooden damper, is intended to carry
off the steam.

On the side of this cover next the mashing-tub, as
also on that opposite to it, by which the wort runs off
into the coolers, there are large folding wooden doors
(i and k, Fig. 1 7), which are occasionally lifted up by
means of ropes which pass over pulleys fastened to the
ceiling of the brewhouse.

There are likewise two glass windows (see Fig. 1 7) in
two opposite sides of the cover, through which, as soon
as in consequence of the boiling of the liquid the steam
becomes transparent and invisible (which happens in a
very few minutes after the liquid has begun to boil),
the contents of the boiler may be distinctly seen and
examined.

Whenever there is occasion during the boiling to
open either a door or a window of the cover, it is neces-
sary to begin by opening the damper of the steam-
chimney, otherwise the hot steam, rushing out with
violence, would expose the by-standers to the danger of
being scalded; but when the damper of the steam-
chimney is open, no steam comes into the brewhouse,
though a door or window of the cover be wide open.

Another similar precaution is sometimes necessary
in opening the door of the fire-place, which it may be
useful to mention. When the dampers in the canals
by which the smoke goes off into the chimney are
nearly closed (which must frequently be done to confine
and economize the heat), if, without altering the dam-

and the Economy of Fuel. 89

per, or the register in the ash-pit door, the fire-place
door be suddenly opened, it will frequently happen that
smoke, and sometimes flame, will rush out of the fire-
place by this passage. This accident may be easily and
effectually prevented, either by opening the damper, or
by closing the register of the ash-pit door, the moment
before the fire-place door is opened. This precaution
should be attended to in all fire-places of all dimensions,
constructed on the principles I have recommended.

To economize the time and the patience of my reader
as far as it is possible, without suppressing any thing
essential relating to the subject under consideration, I
shall give him, in a very small compass, the general
results of a .set of experiments which cost me more
labour (or at least more time} than it would cost him to
read all the Essays I have ever written. I believe I am
sometimes too prolix for the taste of* the age ; but it
should be remembered that the subjects I have under-
taken to investigate are by no means indifferent to me ;
that I conceive them to be intimately connected with
the comforts and enjoyments of mankind ; and that
a habit of revolving them in my mind, and reflecting
on their extensive usefulness, has awakened my enthu-
siasm, and rendered it quite impossible for me to treat
them with cold indifference, however indifferent or tire-
some they may appear to those who have not been
accustomed to view them in the same light.

I have already given an account, in all its various
details, of one experiment which was made (on the
1 5th of April, 1795) with the boiler we have just been
describing (see page 66). I shall now recapitulate the
general results of that experiment, and compare them

go Of the Management of Fire

with the mean results of two other like experiments
made with the same boiler.

Experiment

NO. 27.

Experiment
No. 28.

Quantity of water in the boiler

I2,5o81bs.

12,508 Ibs.

Temperature of the water in the boiler at the
beginning of the experiment ... ,"
Time required to make the water boil .
Fuel employed to make the water boil
Time the water continued boiling . .
Fuel added to keep the water boiling .
Kind of fuel used

Precise Results of the Experiments.

Quantity of ice-cold water which might be
heated 180°, or made to boil, with the heat
generated in the combustion of i Ib. of the

60°
3 h. 40 m.
800 Ibs.
2 h. 43 m.
loo Ibs.
Pine-wood.

58°
3 h. 48 m.
825 Ibs.

Pine-wood.

Time in which, according to the result of
the experiment, ice-cold water might (at
Munich) be made to boil with the given

Quantity of boiling hot water kept boiling
one hour with the heat generated in the
combustion of I Ib. of the fuel ....

339.80 Ibs.

On comparing the results of these experiments with
those made in the boilers of the kitchens of the House
of Industry and Military Academy, I was led to imagine
that either the boiler or the fire-place of the brewery, or
both, were capable of great improvement ; for, in some
of the experiments with these small kitchen boilers, the
economy of fuel had been carried so far that, with the
heat generated in the combustion of i Ib. of pine-wood,
it appeared that 20 'Ibs. of ice-cold water might have
been made to boil ; but here, though the machinery was
on a scale so much larger (and I had concluded, too
rashly indeed, as will be shown hereafter, that the larger
the boiler, the greater is of course the economy of fuel),

and the Economy of Fuel. 91

the results of these experiments indicated that not quite
1 3 Ibs. of ice-cold water could have been made to boil
with the heat furnished in the combustion of i Ib. of the
wood.

The Experiments No. 22, No. 25, and No. 26, which
were made with the largest of my kitchen boilers, had,
it is true, afforded grounds to suspect that, beyond cer-
tain limits, an increase of size in a boiler does not tend
to diminish the expense of fuel in the process of heating
water ; yet, as all my other experiments had tended to
confirm me in the opinion I had at an early period im-
bibed on that subject, I was disposed to suspect any
other cause than the true one of having been instru-
mental in producing the unexpected appearances I
observed.

I was much disappointed, I confess, at finding that
the brewhouse boiler, notwithstanding all the pains I
had taken to fit up its fire-place in the most perfect
manner, and notwithstanding its enormous dimensions,
when compared with the boilers I had hitherto used in
my experiments, so far from answering my expectations,
actually required considerably more fuel in proportion
to its contents than another boiler fitted up on the
same principles, which was not one fiftieth part of its
size.

This unexpected result puzzled me, and I must own
that it vexed me, though I ought perhaps to be ashamed
of my weakness ; but it did not discourage me. Find-
ing, on examining the boiler, that its bottom was very
thick, compared with the thickness of the sheet copper
of which my kitchen boilers were constructed, it oc-
curred to me that possibly that might be the cause, or
at least one of the causes, which had made the consump-

92 Of tlte Management of Fire

tion of fuel so much greater than I expected ; and as
there was another brewhouse in the neighbourhood be-
longing to the Elector, which, luckily for me, stood in
need of a new boiler, I availed myself of that oppor-
tunity to make an experiment, which not only decided
the point in question, but also established a new fact
with regard to heat, which I conceive to be of consid-
erable importance.

Having obtained the Elector's permission to arrange
the second brewhouse as I should think best, I deter-
mined to spare no pains to render it as perfect as possi-
ble in all respects, and particularly in every thing relating
to the economy of fuel. As in brewing, in the manner
that business is carried on in Bavaria, where the whole
process, in as far as fire is employed in it, is begun and
finished in the course of a day, the saving of time in
heating the water and boiling the wort is an object of
almost as much importance as that of economizing fuel,
and consequently demanded particular attention.

The means I used for the attainment of both these
objects will be evident from the following description of
the boiler and its fire-place, which I caused to be con-
structed, and which are represented in all their details
in the Plates III., IV., and V.

This boiler is 12 (Bavarian) feet long, 10 feet wide,
and only 2 feet deep. The sheet copper of which it is
made is uncommonly thin for a boiler of such large
dimensions, being at a medium" less than one tenth of
an English inch in thickness. This boiler, when fin-
ished, weighed no more than 674 Ibs. Bavarian weight,
equal to 834! Ibs. avoirdupois, exclusive of 64 Ibs. of
copper nails used in riveting the sheets of copper
together.

and the Economy of Fuel. 93

The top of the boiler is surrounded by a strong curb
(a, b, Fig. 1 7) of oak timber, to which it is attached by
strong copper nails, and over the boiler is built a roof,
or standing cover (see Fig. 1 7), similar in all respects to
that already described. The bottom of the boiler is flat,
and reposes horizontally on the top of the thin brick
walls by which the fire-place is divided into flues. (See
Fig. 1 8.) These flues do not run in the direction of the
length of the boiler, but from one side of it to the other ;
consequently the door of the fire-place is in the middle
of one side of the boiler.

The sheets of copper, of which the bottom of the
boiler was constructed, run in the direction of the flues ;
and they are just so wide that their seams or joinings
(where they are united to each other by their sides) re-
pose on the walls of the flues, except only in the middle
flue, which, being about twice as wide as the others, one
seam was necessarily left unsupported, at least a consid-
erable part of its length. The sheets of copper used in
constructing this part of the bottom of the boiler are
rather thicker and stronger than the rest : they are just
0.118 of an English inch in thickness.

The fire is made under this boiler in the middle flue,
which, as I have just observed, is a little more than twice
as wide as one of the other flues. There are five flues
under the boiler, namely, one in the middle 44 inches
wide, above in the clear (which constitutes the fire-
place), and two on each .side of it, in which the flame
circulates; one 20 inches wide, and the other 19 inches
wide.

The side flues are each 14! inches deep; but as the
walls which separate them are much thicker below than
above, where the bottom of the boiler reposes on them,

94 Of the Management of Fire

the width of these flues below is only 1 3 inches. The
walls of these flues are shown by dotted lines in
Fig. 17.

The walls which separate the flues do not run quite
from one side of the boiler to the other; an opening
being left at one end of each of them, equal to the width
of one of the narrow flues, for the passage of the flame
from one flue into another, without its going from under
the boiler.

The fire being made (on a circular grate) in the mid-
dle flue (see Fig. 1 8), the flame passes on in this flue to
its farther end ; and then, dividing to the right and left,
comes forward in the two adjoining side-flues. Having
arrived at the wall which supports the front of the boiler,
it turns again to the right and left, and, entering the two
outside flues, returns in them to the back of the boiler.
Here it went out (before the fire-place was altered) at
two openings left for that purpose in the wall which
supports the back part of the boiler, and the two cur-
rents of flame uniting entered a canal 7 inches wide and
1 6 inches high, which goes all round the outside of the
boiler. (See Fig. 20.) Having made the circuit of the
boiler, it went off by a canal (furnished with a damper)
into the chimney.

From this description of the fire-place, it appears that
the flame and smoke generated in the combustion of
the fuel, in passing through those different flues, made
a circuit of above 70 feet in. .contact with the surface
of the boiler, before they were permitted to escape into
the chimney. This, I thought, must be sufficient to
give these hot fluids an opportunity of communicating
to the boiler all the heat they could part with, notwith-
standing the difficulties which attend their getting rid

and the Economy of Fuel. 95

of it ; and I concluded that the communication of their
heat to the boiler would be much facilitated and expe-
dited by the various eddies and whirlpools produced in
the flame in consequence of the number of abrupt turns
and changes of direction it was obliged to make in
passing under and round the boiler.

As the experiments which have been made with this
boiler were conducted throughout with the utmost care
and attention, and as their results are both curious and
important in several respects, I have thought them de-
serving of being made known to the public in all their
details.

An Account of three Experiments made at Munich, the loth October,
1 796, with the new Boiler in the Brewery called Neuheusel, belonging
to HIS MOST SERENE HIGHNESS the ELECTOR. — The weather being
fair; the barometer standing at 28 English inches, and Fahrenheit 's
thermometer at 36°.

Dimensions of the boiler, in English } Length . . n feet 6.02 inches,
measure, as found by actual ad- > Width . . 9 „ 7.723 „
measurement. ) Depth . . 2 „ 0.205 „

Contents of the boiler, when quite full to the brim, 14,163 Ibs. Bavarian
weight of water, at the temperature of 55°, equal to 17.540 Ibs. avoirdu-
pois, or 2099 wine-gallons.

The boiler actually contained of water, in the beginning of each of the two
following experiments, in Bavarian weight, 8120 Ibs., equal to 10,056
Ibs. avoirdupois, or nearly 1204 wine-gallons.

The wood used in this and the following experiments was pine, which
had been moderately seasoned ; and the billets were 3 feet 4^ inches, Eng-
lish measure, in length.

96

Of the Management of Fire

FIRST EXPERIMENT WITH THE NEW BOILER.

Experiment No. 29.

Time.

Quantity of fire-
wood put into

Temperature of
the water in the

the fire-place.

boiler.

No. of
billets.

Quantity
in weight.

In degrees of Fah-
renheit's therm.

h. m.

Ibs.

II 31 A. M.

10

5°

50°

46

15

25

I4

12 O

5

25

64

10 P. M. '

5

25

67

36

85

40

4

25

—

53

5

25

96

I 12

7

25

105

21

10

5°

no

46

10

50

129

58

40

50

—

2 17

46

50

'I6

29

164

34

10

5°

—

4i

173

49

1 80

58

40

So

185

3 if

12

50

197

26

20

25

205

3 35

The water

boiled.

Time employed, 4 h. 4m. Wood consumed, 575 Ibs.

and the Economy of Fuel.

97

The boiling water being let off, and it being replaced
immediately with cold water, the experiment was re-
peated as follows : —

Experiment No. 30.

Time.

Quantity of fire-
wood put into
the fire-place.

Temperature of
the water in the
boiler.

No. of
billets.

Quantity
in weight.

In degrees of Fah-
renheit's therm.

h. m.

Ibs.

4 41 P. M.

40

5°

60°

50

40

50

11

5 4

io

5°

86

16

10

50

99i

29

10

50

114

42

IO

50

126

56

40

50

142

6 10

40

5°

157

24

40

5°

—

28

—

172

40

40

5°

—

42*

185*

53

40

50

—

55

—

—

198

7 2

—

—

205

7 7

_

The water

boiled.

Time employed, 2 h. 26 m. Wood consumed, 550 Ibs.

This boiling water being let off, the boiler was again
filled (immediately) with cold water; and in this third
experiment the quantity of water was increased to
11,368 Ibs. Bavarian weight, equal to 14,078 Ibs.
avoirdupois, or 1685 wine-gallons.

The results of this experiment were as follows : —

98

Of the Management of Fire
Experiment No. 31.

Time.

Quantity of fire-
wood put into

Temperature of
the water in the

the fire-place.

boiler.

No. of
billets.

Quantity
in weight.

In degrees of Fah-
renheit's therm.

h. m.

Ibs.

8 51 P. M.

80

IOO

65i°

9 7

40

5°

79

21

40

5°

90

44

40

5°

107

57

40

50

118

10 14

40

5°

130

28

40

5°

140

45

40

50

J55

ii —

40

5°

165

15

40

5°

'75

3°

40

5°

182

45

40

5°

200

ii 58

The water

boiled.

Time employed, 3 h. 7 m. Wood consumed, 650 Ibs.

Experiments Nos. 29, 30, 31.

No. 29.

No. 30.

No. 31.

Quantity of water in the boiler
at the beginning of the experi-
ment, in Bavarian pounds , .
Temperature of the water at the
beginning of the experiment .
Time employed in making the
water boil

8120 Ibs.
50°
4 h 4 m.

8120 Ibs.
60°
2 h 26 m

1 1,368 Ibs.

65i°
^ h 7 Hi

Fuel (pine-wood) consumed in
making the water boil, in Ba-
varian pounds

S7C. Ibs.

ceo Ibs.

650 Ibs.

Precise Results of the Experi-
ments.

Quantity of ice-cold water which
might have been heated 180°,
or made to boil with the heat
generated in the combustion of
i Ib. of the fuel

12 28 Ibs

Time in which, according to the
result of the experiment, ice-
cold water might be made to
boil at Munich with the given
proportion of fuel .

4 h 31 m

and the Economy of Fuel.

99

The foregoing table shows the result of these three
experiments in a clear and satisfactory manner.

I was surprised, when I compared the results of these
experiments with those made in the other brewhouse,
to find how little in appearance I had gained by the
alterations I had introduced. On a more careful ex-
amination of the matter, however, I found that I had
gained much more than I at first imagined, both in
respect to the economy of fuel and to that of time.
The amount of these advantages will appear from the
following comparison of the mean result of these two
sets of experiments: —

Precise Results of the foregoing Experiments.

Quantity of
ice-cold water
made to boil
with i Ib. of
the fuel.

to make ice-
cold water
boil, according
to the result of
the given ex-
periment.

First Set.
In the Experiment No. 27

Ibs.
12. 06

h. m.

4 20

I2.7O

420

24.77

8 40

12 l8;

4 20

Second Set.

12.54

4 31

12.28

2 <CQ

Sum • •

24. 82

7 ^O

12.41

•3 41;

The mean results of these two sets of experiments
differ very little from each other in appearance; and

ioo Of the Management of Fire

from this circumstance I shall prove that the new
boiler is better adapted for saving fuel than the old.

By comparing the results of the experiments made
with the same boiler, but with different quantities of
water, we shall constantly find that the expense of fuel
was less in proportion as the quantity of water was
greater. In the Experiment No. 23, when 127 Ibs. of
water were used, the result of the experiment indicated
that no more than 12.74 Ibs. of ice-cold water could be
made to boil with the heat generated in the combustion
of i Ib. of the fuel used ; but in the Experiment No. 26,
made with the same boiler, but when 4 times as much
water was used, or 508 Ibs., it appeared from the result
of the experiment that 19.01 Ibs. of ice-cold water might
be made to boil with i Ib. of the fuel.

Now, in the first set of the experiments we are com-
paring, as the quantity of water used (12,508 Ibs.) was
much greater than that used in the second set (8 1 20 Ibs.),
it is evident that, if the construction of the machinery
and the management of the fire had been equally perfect
in the two cases, the economy of fuel would have been
greatest where the largest quantity of water was used, —
that is to say, in the first set of experiments ; but, as that
was not the case, it is certain that the boiler used in the
second set is better adapted to economize fuel than that
used in the first.

But we need not go so far to search for proofs of that
fact. The result of the Experiment No. 31 is alone
sufficient to put the matter beyond doubt. In this ex-
periment, in which the quantity of water (though still
considerably short of that used in the former set of ex-
periments) was augmented from 8 120 Ibs. to 11,368 Ibs.,

and the Economy of Fuel.

101

the saving of fuel was so much increased as to show in
a decisive manner the superiority of the new boiler.

The Precise Results

Quantity of
ice-cold water
made to boil
with i Ib. of
the fuel.

Time r&juired
to make ice-
cold water
boil, according
to the result of
the experi-
ment.

Of this
lows

Experiment (No. 31) were as fol-

Ibs.
14. 1Q

h. m.

•5 VJ

In the

Experiments Nos. 27 and 28, they

12 ^8c

The difference in the expense of fuel in these experi-
ments with these two boilers is by no means infconsid-
erable : it amounts to above 14 per cent, and would
have amounted to more, if more time had been allowed
for heating the water in the experiment with the new
boiler ; for it is easy to show (what indeed was clearly
indicated by all the experiments) that, in causing liquids
to boil, the quantity of fuel will be less in proportion as
the time employed in that process is long, or, which
is the same, as the fire is smaller ; and the saving of
fuel arising from any given prolongation of the process
will be the greater, as the fire-place is more perfect,
and as the means used for confining the heat are more
effectual.

Though the general results of these two sets of ex-
periments afforded abundant reason to conclude that
the alterations I had introduced in arranging the new
boiler were real improvements, yet, when I compared
the quantity of fuel consumed in the experiments with
this new boiler with the much smaller quantities, in
proportion to the quantity of water, which were em-
ployed in some of my former experiments with kitchen

102 Of the Management of Fire

boilers, I was for some time quite at a loss to account
for this difference. In all my experiments with boilers
of different sizes, from the smallest saucepan up to the
largest kitchen boilers, I had invariably found that the
larger the quantity of water was which was heated,
the less, in proportion, was the quantity of fuel neces-
sary to be employed in that process ; and so entirely
had that prejudice taken possession of my mind, that
when the strongest -reasons for doubt presented them-
selves, they were overlooked ; and it was not till I had
searched in vain on every side to discover some other
cause to which I could attribute the unexpected appear-
ance that embarrassed me, that I was induced — I may
say, forced — to abandon my former opinion, and to be
convinced that what I had too hastily considered as a
general law does not in fact obtain but within narrow
limits; that although in heating certain quantities of
liquids there is an advantage, in point of the economy
of fuel, in performing the process on a larger scale, in
preference to a smaller one, yet when the liquid to be
heated amounts to a certain quantity this advantage
ceases; and, if it exceeds that quantity, it is attended
with an expense of fuel proportionally greater than
when the quantity is less.

What the size of a boiler must be, in order that the
saving of fuel may be a maximum, I do not pretend to
have determined. I think, however, that there are some
reasons for suspecting that it would not be larger than
some of the kitchen boilers used in my experiments.
But I recollect to have promised my reader that I
would not give him my opinion without laying before
him at the same time the grounds of those opinions.
In the present case they are as follows : —

and the Economy of Fuel. 103

In an experiment of which I have already given an
account (No. 3), 7j| Ibs. of water, at the temperature of
58°, were made to boil in a saucepan fitted up in my
best manner, in a closed fire-place ; and the wood con-
sumed was i Ib. This gives, for the precise result of the
experiment, 6.68 Ibs. of ice-cold water made to boil with
i Ib. of the fuel.

In another experiment (No. 1 2) made with one of the
small boilers belonging to the kitchen of the Military
Academy, fitted up on the same principles, 43.63 Ibs. of
water, at the temperature of 60°, were made to boil with
3 Ibs of wood. This gives 11.93 Ibs. of ice-cold water
made to boil with i Ib. of the fuel.

Again, in the Experiment No. 20, which was made
with a larger boiler belonging to the same kitchen, and
fitted up in the same manner, 187 Ibs. of water (equal
to about 28 gallons), at the temperature of 55°, were
made to boil with the combustion of 8 Ibs. of fire-wood.
This gives 20.10 Ibs. of ice-cold water made to boil with
i Ib. of the wood ; and farther than this I have not
been able to push the economy of fuel.

In the Experiment No. 26, a boiler was used which
had been constructed with the express view to see how
far it was possible to carry the economy of fuel in culi-
nary processes; and it was fitted up with the utmost
care, and on the most approved principles. As I
thought at that time that a large-sized boiler was
essential to the economizing of fuel, this boiler was
made to contain 106 gallons. In the experiment in
question it actually contained 508 Bavarian pounds of
water (or about 63 gallons), at the temperature of 48°;
and, to make this water boil, 24 Ibs. of wood were con-
sumed. This gives 19.01 Ibs. of ice-cold water made

io4

Of the Management of Fire

to boil with i Ib. of fuel. Hence it appears that the
expense of fuel was greater in this experiment than in
that last-mentioned.

Again, in the Experiment No. 3 1 , when no less than
11,368 Ibs. or 1685 gallons of water were heated and
made to boil in the new brewhouse boiler, the wood
consumed amounted to 650 Ibs., which (as the tempera-
ture of the water at the beginning of the experiment
was 65^°) gives for the precise result of the experiment
14.59 Ibs. of ice-cold water made to boil with the heat
generated in the combustion of i Ib. of the fuel.

As the relative quantities of fuel expended in the
experiments are inversely as the numbers expressing
the quantities of ice.-cold water, which, from the result
of each experiment, it appears might have been heated
1 80°, or made to boil, under the mean pressure of the
atmosphere at the level of the sea, with the heat generated
in the combustion of i Ib. of the fuel, it is evident that
these numbers measure very accurately the different
degrees to which the economy of fuel was carried in
the different experiments. The economy of fuel in
heating liquids, depending on the quantity of the liquid,
as shown by the foregoing experiments, may therefore
be expressed shortly in the following manner : —

Quantity of water
heated in the ex-

Degrees to which
the economy of

periment, tn Ba-

the fuel was

varian Ibs.

carried.

Ibs.

Ibs

In the Experiment No. 3 . . .

7-93

6.68

No. 12 . . .

43-63

11.93

No. 16 .

187

20. 10

No. 26 .

508

19.01

No. 31 . . .

11,368

14.59

and the Economy of Fuel. 105

Before I take my leave of this subject I would just
remark that the cause of the appearances observed in
the experiments may, I think, be traced to that prop-
erty of flame from which it has been denominated a
non-conductor of heat; for, if the different particles
of flame give off their heat only to bodies with which
they actually come into contact, the quantity of heat
given off by it will be not as its volume (and conse-
quently not as the quantity of fuel consumed), but
rather as its surface. And as the surface of the flame,
when fire-places are similar, is proportionally greater in
small than in large fire-places, — the surfaces of simi-
lar bodies being as the squares of their corresponding
sides, while their volumes are as the cubes of those
sides, — it is evident that, on that account, less heat in
proportion to the quantity generated in the combustion
of the fuel ought to be communicated to the boiler,
when the fire-place and boiler are large, than when the
process is carried on upon a smaller scale.

There are, however, several other circumstances to
be taken into the account in determining the effects of
size in the machinery necessary for boiling liquids ; and
one of them, which has great influence, is the heat
absorbed by the masonry of the fire-place. This loss
will most undoubtedly be the smaller, as the fire-place
is larger ; but to determine the exact point when, the
saving on the one hand being just counterbalanced by
the loss on the other, any augmentation or diminution
of size in the machinery would be attended with a posi-
tive loss of heat is not easy to be ascertained. Provided
however that proper attention be paid to the manage-
ment of the fire, and that as much heat as possible be
generated in the combustion of the fuel (which may

io6 Oft the Management of Fire

always be done in the largest fire-place as well, if not
better, than in smaller ones), as that part of the heat
which goes off in the smoke is indubitably lost, a ther-
mometer placed in the chimney would indicate, with a
considerable degree of precision, the perfections or im-
perfections of the fire-place.

It is well known that the smoke which rises from the
chimneys of the closed fire-places of very large boilers is
much hotter than that which escapes from smaller fire-
places ; and I am surprised that this fact, which has long
been known to me, should not have led me to suspect
that the waste of fuel was proportionally greater in these
large fire-places than in smaller ones.

Besides the experiments of which I have given an ac-
count, several others were made with the new brewhouse
boiler ; and, among others, four experiments were made
on four succeeding days in brewing beer ; and it was
found that considerably less fuel was expended in these
trials than was necessary in brewing the same quantity
of beer in the other brewhouse, in which I first intro-
duced my improvements. But though the alteration of
form, diminution of the thickness of the metal, etc., which
I had introduced in constructing the new boiler and also
in the manner of fitting it up, had produced a consider-
able saving of fuel, yet it was not accompanied by a pro-
portional saving of time. I had flattered myself that by
making the boiler very thin and very shallow, I should
bring its contents to boil in a very short time ; but I did
not consider how much time is necessary for the com-
bustion of the fuel necessary for heating so large a quan-
tity of water, otherwise my expectations on this head
would have been less sanguine. The quantity of heat
generated in any given time being as the quantity of

and the Economy of Fuel. 107

fuel consumed, it must depend in a great measure on
the size of the fire-place ; and when it is required to
heat a large quantity of water, or of any liquid, in a very
short time, either the fire-place must be large, or (what
in my opinion would be still better) a number of separate
fire-places — two or three, for instance — must be made
under the same boiler. The boiler should be made
wide and shallow, in order to admit of a great number
of flues, in which the flame and smoke of the different
fires should be made to circulate separately under its
bottom.

The combustion of the fuel, and consequently the
generation and communication of the heat, may in the
same fire-place be considerably accelerated by increasing
the draught (as it is called) of the fire ; which may be
done by increasing the height of the chimney, or by en-
larging the canal leading to the chimney, and keeping
the damper open, when that passage is too small, or by
shortening the length of the flues.

The master brewer having expressed a wish that some
contrivance might be used by which the water might be
made to boil a little sooner in the new boiler, I made an
alteration in its fire-place which completely answered
that purpose.

But, besides the desire I had to oblige the master
brewer (who only thought how he could contrive to
finish as early as possible his day's work), I had another
and much more important object in view. Having had
reason to suspect that flues which go round on the out-
side of large boilers do little more than prevent the
escape of the heat by their sides, — which, with infi-
nitely less trouble and less expense, may be prevented by
other means, — I was desirous of finding out, by a deci-

io8 Of the Management of Fire

sive experiment, the real amount of the advantages
gained by those flues, or the saving of fuel which they
produce. And as I was confident that the suppression
of the flue which went round the new boiler would in-
crease the draught of the fire-place, and accelerate the
combustion of the fuel, I concluded that, if my opinion
was well founded with respect to the smallness of the
advantages derived from these side flues, the increase of
heat arising from the acceleration of the combustion
occasioned by the increased draught on closing them
up would more than counterbalance the loss of those
advantages, and the time employed in heating the water
would be found to be actually less than it was before.

The results of the . following experiments show how
far my suspicions were founded : —

Experiment No. 32. — The flue round the outside of
the new brewhouse boiler having been closed up, and
two canals (a and b, Fig. 21) formed from the end of
the two outside flues of those situated under the boiler,
by which two canals (which were both furnished with
dampers) the smoke passed off from under the boiler
directly into the chimney, the Experiment No. 31, which
was made with the same boiler before the outside flues
were closed up, was now repeated with the utmost
care, in order to ascertain the effects which the closing
up of those flues would produce. The quantity of water
in the boiler, and its temperature at the beginning of
the experiment, were the same ; the wood used as fuel
was taken from the same parcel, and it was put into the
fire-place in the same quantities, and at the same inter-
vals of time.. In short, every circumstance was the same
in the two experiments, excepting only the alterations
which had been made in the fire-place. As the length

and the Economy of Fuel. 109

of the flues through which the flame and smoke were
obliged to pass to get into the chimney had been dimin-
ished more than half (or reduced from 70 to about 30
feet), the strength of the draught of the fire-place was
much increased, as was evident not only from the in-
creased violence of the combustion of the fuel, which
was very apparent, but also from another circumstance,
which I think it my duty to mention. Before the flue
round the boiler was closed, if too much fuel was put
into the fire-place at once, it not only did not burn with
a clear flame, but frequently the smoke, and sometimes
the flame, came out of the fire-place door, even when
the damper in the chimney was wide open ; but, after
this flue was closed up, it was found to be hardly pos-
sible to overcharge the fire-place, and the fuel always
burned with the utmost vivacity.

I ought to inform my reader that, though the entrance
into the flue which went round the outside of the boiler
was closed, and another and a shorter road opened for
the flame and smoke to pass off into the chimney, yet
the cavity of the flue remained ; and, by means of open-
ings jjc, c, c, c, c, c, Fig. 21, Plate V.) about 6 inches
square in the brick-work which separated this old road
(which was now shut up) from the flues under the boiler,
the flame was permitted to pass into this cavity, and to
• spread itself round the outside of the boiler. This con-
trivance (which I would recommend for all boilers) not
only prevents the escape of the heat out of the boiler
by its sides, but contributes something towards heating
it ; and, as the openings in the side's of the flues do not
sensibly impede the motion of the flame, they can do
no harm.

As the two experiments, the results of which I am about

no

Of the Management of Fire

to compare, were made with the greatest care, and as
they are on several accounts uncommonly interesting, I
shall place them in a conspicuous point of view.

A COMPARATIVE VIEW OF TWO EXPERIMENTS MADE
WITH A NEW BREWHOUSE BOILER.

The time is reckoned from the beginning of the Experiment, and was
the same in both Experiments.

Quantity of water in the boiler 1 1,368 Ibs. Bavarian weight.

Fuel put into the fire-place.

Heat of the water in the boiler.

Time from the

beginning of the
experiment.

Number of
billets.

Quantity
in weight.

Experiment No. 31
(outside flue open).

Experiment No. 32
(outside flue closed).

h. m.

No.

Ibs.

Decrees

Degrees.

80

100

65^

65*

o 16

40

5°

79

82

o 30

40

5°

90

94

o 53

40

50

107

IIO

i 6

40

5°

118

122

i 53

40

50

r3°

135

i 37

40

50

140

147

i 54

40

5°

155

160

2 9

40

50

165

171

2 24

40

50

175

182

2 39

40

50

182

191

2 54

40

50

200

— .

2 59

—

Boiled.

3 7

—

—

Boiled.

—

Having found, by comparing the results of these two
experiments, that I had lost nothing in respect to the
economy of fuel by shutting up the outside flue of my
boiler, I was now desirous of ascertaining how much I
had gained in point of time, or how much the increased
draught of the fire-place, in consequence of its flues
being shortened, enabled me to abridge the time em-
ployed in causing the contents of the boiler to boil, in

and the Economy of Fuel.

in

cases in which it should be advantageous to expedite
that process at the expense of a small additional quan-
tity of fuel.

By the following experiment, in which the combus-
tion of the fuel was made as rapid as possible by keep-
ing the fire-place full of wood, and the register in the
ash-pit door and the damper in the chimney constantly
quite open, may be seen how far I succeeded in the
attainment of that object.

Experiment No. 33. — The boiler contained 11,368
Ibs. Bavarian weight of water, at the temperature of 47°.
The fuel used was pine-wood moderately seasoned, in
billets 3 feet 4 inches long, and split into small pieces
of about i Ib. each, that it might burn the more
rapidly.

This experiment was made the 2gth of November,
1796, the barometer standing at 26 inches 8.7 lines,
Paris measure, and Fahrenheit's thermometer at 33°.

Time.

Fuel put into the fire-place.

Temperature of
the water in the
copper.

h. m.

Ibs.

Degrees.

2 0

100

47

14

100

58

34

100

88

51

100

100

3 9

100

123

25

100

144

39

100

I5i

4 o

100

—

10

200

17

—

Boiled.

Time employed, 2 17

Wood consumed, 800

In the Experiment No. 32, the same quantity of
water, at the temperature of 65^°, was made to boil in

1 1 2 Of the Management of Fire

2 hours 59 minutes, with the consumption of 625 Ibs.
of the same kind of wood. Had the water in this
experiment been as cold as it was in the Experiment
.No. 33 (namely, at the temperature of 47°), instead of
625 Ibs., 705 Ibs. of the fuel would have been neces-
sary ; and the process, instead of lasting 2 hours and
59 minutes, would have lasted 3 hours and 22 minutes.

Hence we may conclude that to abridge i hour and
5 minutes of 3 hours and 22 minutes in the process of
boiling 11,368 Ibs. of water, this cannot be done at a
less additional expense of fuel than that of 95 Ibs. of
pine-wood; or, to abridge the time one third, there
must be an additional expense of about one eighth more
fuel.

In some cases it will be most profitable to save time,
in others to economize fuel ; and it will always be
desirable to be able to do either, as circumstances may
render most expedient.

From a comparison of the quantities of fuel con-
sumed, and consequently of heat generated, in the same
time, with the quantities of heat actually communicated
to the water in the Experiments Nos. 32 and 33
during this time, an idea may be formed of the great
quantity of heat that may remain in flame and smoke
after they have passed many feet in flues under the
thin bottom of a boiler containing cold water ; and this
shows with how much difficulty these hot vapours part
with their heat, and how important it is to be acquainted
with that fact in order to take measures with certainty
for economizing fuel.

I have been the more particular in my account of
these experiments with large boilers, as I believe no
experiments of the kind on so large a scale have been

the Economy of Fuel. 113

yet made ; and, as they were all conducted with care,
their results have intrinsic value independent of the
particular uses to which I have applied them.

As, in the countries where this Essay is likely to be
most read, pit-coals are more frequently used as fuel
than wood, it will not only be satisfactory, but in many
cases may be really useful, to my reader to know the
relative quantities of heat producible from coals and
from wood, in order to be able to compare the results
of experiments in which coals are used as fuel, with
those of which I have here given an account ; or to
determine the quantity of coals necessary in any pro-
cess which it is known may be performed with a given
quantity of wood.

It was my intention to have made a set of experi-
ments on purpose to determine the relative quantities
of heat producible from all the various kinds of combus-
tible bodies which are used as fuel ; and I made pre-
parations for beginning them, but I have not yet been
able to find leisure to attend to the subject.

The most satisfactory account I have been able to
procure respecting the matter in question is one for
which I am indebted to my friend Mr. Kirwan. By this
account, which he tells me is founded on experiments
made by M. Lavoisier,' it appears that equal quantities
of water, under equal surfaces, may be evaporated, and
consequently equal heats produced —

In weight, In measure,

By 403 Ibs. of cokes, By 17 of cokes,
600 „ of pit-coal, 10 of pit-coal,

600 ,, of charcoal, 40 of charcoal,

1089 „ of oak ; 33 of oak.

I wish I were at liberty to transcribe the ingenious
and interesting observations which accompanied this

H4 Of the Management of Fire

estimate ; but, as they make part of a work which I
understand is preparing for the press, I dare not antici-
pate what Mr. Kirwan will himself soon lay before the
public.

According to this estimate it appears that 1089 Ibs.
of oak produce as much heat in their combustion as
600 Ibs. of pit-coal. Now, if we suppose that the pine-
wood used in my experiments is capable of producing
as much heat per pound as oak, — and I have reason to
think it does not afford less, — from the quantity of
pine-wood used in any of my experiments, it is easy to
ascertain how much coal would have been necessary
to generate the same quantity of heat ; for the weight
of the coal which would be required is to the weight of
the wood actually consumed, as 600 to 1089.

In one of my experiments (No. 31), 11,368 Ibs. of
water, at the temperature of 65!°, were made to boil
with 650 Ibs. of pine-wood. As when the experiment
was made the mercury in the barometer stood at about
28 English inches, the temperature of the water when
it boiled was only 209^-°, consequently its temperature
was raised (209! — 65!) 144 degrees. Had the water
been boiled in London, or in any other place nearly on
a level with the surface of the sea, it must have been
heated to 212° to have been made to boil, consequently
its temperature must have been raised 1463° ; and to
have done this, instead of 650 Ibs. of wood, 66 ij Ibs.
would have been required (140° is to 650 Ibs. as 146^°
to 66 4 Ibs.).

If pit-coal were used instead of wood, 363^ Ibs. of
that kind of fuel would have been sufficient ; for the
quantities in weight of different kinds of fuel required
to perform the same process being inversely as the

and the Economy of Fuel. 1 1 5

quantities of heat which equal weights of the given
kinds of fuel are capable of generating, or directly as
the quantities of the kind of fuel in question, which are
required to produce the same heat, it is 1089 to 600, as
66 1 1 Ibs. of wood to 363! Ibs. of coal, supposing the
foregoing estimate to be exact.

Whether it would be possible to cause so large a
quantity of water (1681 wine-gallons), at the given tem-
perature (65!°), to boil, with this small quantity of coal,
I leave to those who are conversant in experiments of
this kind to determine.

From the result of my 2Oth Experiment it appeared
that 2OiV Ibs. of ice-cold water might be heated 180
degrees, or made to boil under the mean pressure of the
atmosphere at the level of the surface of the ocean, with
the heat generated in the combustion of i Ib. of pine-
wood. Computing from the result of this experiment,
and from the relative quantities of heat producible from
pine-wood and from pit-coal, it appears that the heat
generated in the combustion of i Ib. of pit-coal would
make 363;% Ibs. of ice-cold water boil.

Hence it appears that pit-coal should heat 36 times its
weight of water, from the freezing point to that of boiling ;
and, as it has been found by experiments made with great
care by Mr. Watt that nearly 5! times as much heat
as is sufficient to heat any given quantity of ice-cold
water to the boiling-point is required to reduce that
same quantity of water, already boiling-hot, to steam, —
according to this estimation, the heat generated in the
combustion of i Ib. of coal should be sufficient to re-
duce very nearly 7 Ibs. of boiling-hot water to steam.

How far these estimates agree with the experiments
that have been made with steam-engines, I know not ;

1 1 6 Of the Management of Fire

but there seems to be much reason to suspect that the
expense of fuel, in working those engines, is consider-
ably greater than it ought to be, or than it would be,
were the boilers and fire-places constructed on the best
principles, and the fire properly managed.

In attempts to improve, it is always very desirable
to know exactly what progress has been made, — to be
able to measure the distance we have laid behind us in
our advances, and also that which still remains between
us and the object in view. The ground which has
been gone over is easily measured ; but to estimate
that which still Iks before us is frequently much more
difficult.

The advances I have made in my attempts to im-
prove fire-places, for 'the purpose of economizing fuel,
may be estimated by the results of the experiments of
which I have given an account in this Essay ; but it
would be satisfactory, no doubt, to know how much
farther it is possible to push the economy of fuel.

In my 4th Experiment, 7^f Ibs. of water, at the tem-
perature of 58°, were made to boil, at Munich, with
6 Ibs. of wood. If, from the result of this experiment,
we compute the quantity of ice-cold water which, with
the heat generated in the combustion of i Ib. of the
fuel, might be heated 1 80°, or made to boil, it will turn
out to be only i| Ib., or more exactly i.i i Ib.

According to the result of the Experiment No. 20,
it appeared that no less than 2Oyo Ibs. of ice-cold water
might have been made to boil with the heat generated
in the combustion of i Ib. of pine-wood.

It appears, therefore, that about eighteen times as
much fuel, in proportion to the quantity of water
heated, was expended in the Experiment No. 4, as in

and the Economy of Fuel. 117

the No. 20 ; and hence we may conclude with the
utmost certainty, that of the heat generated, or which
with proper management might have been generated, in
the combustion of the fuel used in the 4th Experiment,
less than -jV part was employed in heating the water, —
the remainder, amounting to more than -£J of the whole
quantity, being dispersed and lost.

I ventured to give it as my opinion, in the beginning
of this Essay, that " not less than seven eighths of the
heat generated, or which with proper management
might be generated, from the fuel actually consumed,
is carried up into the atmosphere with the smoke, and
totally lost." I will leave it to my reader to judge
whether this opinion was not founded on good and
sufficient grounds.

But though it be proved beyond the possibility of a
doubt that the process of heating water was performed
in the 2oth Experiment with about -fs part of the pro-
portion of fuel which was actually expended in the 4th
Experiment, yet neither of these experiments, nor any
deductions that can be founded on their results, can
give us any light with respect to the real loss of heat,
or how much less fuel would be sufficient were there
no loss whatever of heat. The experiments show that
the loss of heat must have been at least eighteen times
greater in one case than in the other; but they do
not afford grounds to form even a probable conjecture
respecting the amount of the loss of heat in the experi-
ment in which the economy of fuel was carried the
farthest, or the possibility of any farther improvements
in the construction of fire-places. I shall, however, by
availing myself of the labours of others, and comparing
the results of their experiments with mine, endeavour
to throw some light on this abstruse subject.

1 1 8 Of the Management of Fire

Dr. Crawford found, by an experiment contrived with
much ingenuity, and which appears to have been exe-
cuted with the utmost care, that the heat generated in
the combustion of 30 grains of charcoal raised the tem-
perature of 31 Ibs. 7 oz. Troy (= 181,920 grains of
water) i^fty degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, when
none of the heat generated was suffered to escape.

But if 30 grains of charcoal are necessary to raise the
temperature of 181,920 grains of water i^Vfr degrees,
it would require 3 1 5 7.9 grains of charcoal to raise the
temperature of the same quantity of water 1 80 degrees,
or from the point of freezing to that of boiling ; for it
is 1.71° to 30 grains, as 180° to 3157.9 grains. Conse-
quently the heat generated in the combustion of i Ib.
of charcoal would be sufficient to heat 57.608 Ibs. of
ice-cold water 180°, or to make it boil ; for 3157.9 grains
of charcoal are to 181,920 grains of water as i Ib. of
charcoal to 57.608 Ibs. of water.

From the results of M. Lavoisier's experiments, it
appeared that the quantities of heat generated in the
combustion of equal weights of charcoal and dry oak
are as 1089 to 600. Hence we may conclude that
equal quantities of heat are generated by i Ib. of
charcoal and 1.815 Iks. of oak; consequently that the
heat generated in the combustion of 1.815 Ibs. of oak
would heat 57.608 Ibs. of ice-cold water, — or i Ib. of
oak, 31.74 Ibs of ice-cold water 180°, or cause it to boil,
— were no part of the heat generated in the combustion
of the fuel lost.

If now we suppose the quantities of heat produci-
ble from equal weights of dry oak and of dry pine-wood
to be equal, — and there is reason to believe that this
supposition cannot be far from the truth, — we can

and the Economy of Fuel. 119

estimate the real loss of heat in each of the two ex-
periments before mentioned (No. 4 and No. 20), as also
in every other case in which the quantity of fuel con-
sumed, and the effects produced by the heat, are
known.

Thus, for instance, in the 2oth Experiment, as the
effects actually indicated that, with that part of the
heat generated in the combustion of i Ib. of the fuel
which entered the boiler, 2OiV Ibs. of ice-cold water
might have been made to boil ; as by the above esti-
mate it appears that 311^ Ibs. of ice-cold water might
be made to boil with all the heat generated in the com-
bustion of i Ib. of the fuel, it is evident that about one
third of the heat generated was lost, or fff^ of it was
saved.

This loss is certainly not greater than might reason-
ably have been expected, especially when we consider
all the various causes which conspire in producing it ;
and I doubt whether the economy of fuel will ever be
carried much farther.

In the Experiment No. 4, as the effects produced by
the heat which entered the boiler indicated that no
more than 1.14 Ib. of ice-cold water could have been
made to boil with i Ib. of the fuel, it appears that in
this experiment only about ^th part of the heat gen-
erated was saved.

In all the experiments made on a very large scale,
with brewhouse boilers, rather more than one half of
the heat generated found its way up the chimney, and
was lost.

1 20 Of the Management of Fire

CHAPTER VI.

A short Account of a Number of Kitchens, public and
private, and Fire-places for various Uses, which have
been constructed under the Direction of the Author,
in different Places. — Of the Kitchen of the HOUSE
of INDUSTRY at MUNICH ; of that of the MILITARY
ACADEMY ; of that of the MILITARY MESS-HOUSE ;
that of the FARM-HOUSE, and those belonging to the
INN in the ENGLISH GARDEN at MUNICH. — Of the
Kitchens of the Hospitals of LA PIETA and LA Mi-
SERICORDIA at VERONA. — Of a small Kitchen fitted
up as a Model in the House of SIR JOHN SINCLAIR,
Bart., in LONDON. — Of the Kitchen of the FOUND-
LING HOSPITAL in LONDON. — Of a MILITARY
KITCHEN for the Use of TROOPS in CAMP. • — Of
a PORTABLE BOILER for the Use of TROOPS on
a MARCH. — Of a large BOILER fitted up as a Model
for BLEACHERS at the LINEN HALL in DUBLIN. —
Of a Fire-place for COOKING, and at the same Time

WARMING A LARGE HALL J and of a PERPETUAL OvEN,

both fitted up in the HOUSE of INDUSTRY at DUBLIN.
— Of the KITCHEN, LAUNDRY, CHIMNEY FIRE-PLACES,
COTTAGE FIRE-PLACES, and Model of a LIME-KILN,
fitted up in IRELAND in the House of the DUBLIN
SOCIETY.

MY wish to give the most complete information
possible with regard to the grounds on which
the improvements I propose are founded has induced
me to be very particular in my account of my experi-
ments, and of the conclusions and practical inferences

and the Economy of Fuel. 121

I have thought myself authorized to draw from them ;
and as these investigations have frequently led me into
abstruse philosophical idisquisitions, which might not
perhaps be very interesting to many of my readers, to
whom a simple account of my fire-places, with 'direc-
tions for constructing them, might be' really useful ; in
order to accommodate readers of all descriptions, I have
thought it best to divide my subject, and to reserve what
I have still to say on the mechanical part of it — the
construction of kitchen fire-places — for a separate
Essay. In the mean time, for the information of those
who may have opportunities of examining any of the
kitchens or fire-places, for other purposes, which have
already been constructed on my principles, under my
direction, I have annexed the following account of
them, and of the particular merits and imperfections
of each of them. This account, added to what has
been said in the foregoing chapters of this Essay on
the construction of fire-places, will, I flatter myself, be
found sufficient to convey the fullest information re-
specting the subject under consideration, and enable
those who may wish to adopt the proposed improve-
ments to construct fire-places of all kinds on the prin-
ciples recommended, without any farther assistance.

Those who may not have leisure to enter into these
scientific investigations, and who, notwithstanding, may
wish to imitate these inventions, will find all the infor-
mation they can want in my next Essay.

An Account of the Kitchen of the House of Industry
at Munich, in its present State.

The large circular copper boiler (which is situated in
a small room adjoining to the great kitchen) is fitted

122 Of the Management of Fire

up in a very complete manner ; its (wooden) cover is
cheap, simple, and durable, and answers perfectly well
for confining the heat; the steam tube (or steam
chimney as I have called it) is very useful, as it carries
off all the steam generated in cooking, and keeps the
air of the kitchen dry and wholesome. To carry off
the steam which rises from the hot soup when it is
served up, there is a steam-chimney of wood (furnished
with a valve), the opening of which is situated at the
highest part of the kitchen. To prevent the cold air
from coming down by this passage into the kitchen, its
damper (which is opened and shut by a cord which goes
over a pulley) is, in winter, kept constantly shut, except
just when it is necessary to open it for a moment to let
out the steam.

The only alteration I would make, were I to fit up
this boiler again, would be to leave openings by which
the flues might be cleaned occasionally, without lifting
the boiler out of its place. This should be done in the
fire-places of all large boilers. This boiler, which is
used every day, requires to have its flues cleaned, and
its bottom and sides scrubbed with a broom, to free
them of soot, once in six weeks.

Over against this boiler is a machine for drying
potatoes, which has been found to answer perfectly
well the end for which it was contrived. Potatoes
first moderately boiled, and then skinned and cut into
thin slices, and dried in this machine, may be kept good
for many years.

The eight iron boilers in the great kitchen are fitted
up on good principles ; and the oven, which is heated
by the smoke from the fire-places of two of these boilers,
which oven is destined for drying the wood for the use
of this kitchen, is deserving of attention.

and the Economy of Fuel. 123

The wooden covers of these eight boilers, and the
horizontal tubes, constructed of wood wound round
with canvas and painted with oil colours, by which the
steam is carried off, have been found to answer very
well the purposes for which they were contrived.

The Kitchen of the Military Academy at Munich.

This kitchen in its present state is so perfect in all
its parts, that I do not think it capable of any consid-
erable improvement. The roaster, which has been in
daily use seven years, is still in good condition, and bids
fair to last twenty years longer. It is large and roomy,
and has been found to be extremely useful. Though
the different parts of this kitchen are not distributed
with so much symmetry as could have been wished,
owing to local circumstances, yet it is very complete in
its various details, and all the various processes of
cookery are performed in it with little labour, and with
a very small expense indeed of fuel. Two large boil-
ers and three large saucepans, which are fitted up in
a detached mass of brick-work in a corner of the room
(on the right hand on going into it), I can recommend
as perfect models for imitation. In short, I know of
nothing which I could wish to alter in this kitchen.
To say the truth, it has already undergone a sufficient
number of changes and alterations.

The Kitchen in the Military Hall or Officers' Mess-
House in the English Garden at Munich.

This kitchen is much less perfect in its details than
that just mentioned. It was built in the spring of the
year 1 790, and has since undergone only a few trifling
alterations. It has three roasters, which are made small

124 Of the Management of Fire

on purpose to serve as models for private families ; and
I have had the pleasure to know that they have often
been imitated.

The Kitchen in the Farm-House in the English
Garden.

This kitchen is well contrived for the use for which
it was designed, and I can recommend it as a very
good model for the kitchens of farm-houses, for fam-
ilies consisting of eighteen or twenty persons. One of
the boilers, which is destined for warming water for the
use of the kitchen and the stables, is in winter heated
by the smoke of a German stove, which is situated in
an adjoining roorn, — that inhabited by the overseer
of the farm.

The great Kitchen of the Inn in the Garden.

This kitchen, which is adjoining to the farm-house,
is contrived almost for the sole purpose of roasting
chickens before an open fire, a kind of food of which
the Bavarians are extravagantly fond. It has three
open fire-places, constructed on the principles recom-
mended in my Essay on Chimney Fire-places, fronting
different sides of the kitchen, and all opening into the
same chimney, which chimney is built nearly in the
middle of the room. This kitchen was built before my
roasters were come into use.

The small Kitchen belonging to the Inn.

This kitchen has nothing belonging to it which
deserves attention, or which I would recommend for
imitation. It was originally designed merely for mak-
ing coffee, chocolate, etc.

and the Economy of Fuel. 125

A kitchen which has lately been fitted up on my
principles, in the new hospital for the infirm and help-
less poor, which is situated on the height called the
Gasteig, on the side of the river opposite to the town
of Munich, is much more interesting, and is a good
model for imitation.

The Kitchen of the Hospital of La Pieta at Verona

Is peculiarly interesting, on account of its convenient
form and the perfect symmetry of its parts.

The mass of brick-work in which the boilers are
fixed occupies the middle of one side of a large high
room, which is plastered and white-washed, and neatly
paved. The covers of the large boilers are lifted up by
ropes which go over pulleys fixed to the ceiling of the
top of the room ; but were I to .build the kitchen
again, I should substitute wooden covers with steam-
chimneys instead of them, such in all respects as that
belonging to the large round copper boiler in the
kitchen of the House of Industry at Munich. When
the covers are so large that they cannot conveniently
be lifted on and off with the hand, they should, in my
opinion, always be made of wood, and divided into
parts, united by hinges. When they are designed for
confining the steam entirely, they should be made on
a peculiar construction, which will hereafter be de-
scribed. The covers for small boilers, and those for
saucepans, should always be of tin, and double.

The grates on which the fires are made under the
boilers in the kitchen of the Hospital of La Pieta are
circular ; but they are not hollow, or dishing, as that
improvement did not occur to me till after that kitchen
was finished. The spiral flues under the boilers are

126 Of the Management of Fire

also wanting, and for the same reason. In all other
respects this kitchen is, I believe, quite perfect.

The Kitchen of the Hospital of La Misericordia at
Verona

Is constructed on the same principles as that of La
Pieta. The only difference between 'them is in the
distribution of the boilers. That of La Misericordia
is built round two sides of the room. In many cases,
this manner of disposing of the boilers will be found
more convenient than any other ; but in all cases where
this method of placing them is preferred, care must be
taken to place the largest boilers farthest from the
chimney, and the smaller ones nearer to it, and in reg-
ular succession as their sizes diminish. This is neces-
sary, in order that in the mass of brick-work in which
the boilers are fixed there may be room behind the
smaller boilers for the canals which carry off the smoke
from the large ones into the chimney.

This circumstance was attended to in constructing
the small kitchen which I fitted up last spring in the
house of Sir John Sinclair, Bart, President of the
Board of Agriculture, Whitehall, London. This
kitchen (which was intended to serve as a model, and
is open to the public view at all hours) is by no means
as perfect as I wished it to be. Having been built
during my jour.ney to Ireland, several mistakes were
made by the workmen I employed, who, though they
have great merit in their different lines of business,
had not then had sufficient experience in constructing
kitchens on my principles, to be able to execute such a
job in my absence without committing some faults.
Those which were most essential I corrected ; but my

and the Economy of Fuel. 1 2 7

stay in England, after my return from Ireland, was too
short, and my time too much taken up with other mat-
ters, to rebuild the kitchen from the foundation, which
I was -very desirous of doing, and which, with the per-
mission of the proprietor, I shall certainly do when I
come to England again. The greatest fault of the
kitchen is the want of dampers to the canals by which
the smoke is carried off from the closed fire-places of
the boilers and saucepans into the chimney. These
dampers should never be omitted in any fire-place,
however small. They are necessary even in fire-places
for the smallest saucepans, and no large boiler should
on any account be without one. Some experiments
I have lately made (since my return to Bavaria) have
showed me how very necessary these dampers are ;
and I consider it as my duty to the public to lose no
time in recommending the general use of them. The
flattering attention which has been paid by the public
to the various improvements I have taken the liberty to
propose, not only demands my warmest gratitude, but
lays me under an indispensable obligation to exert my-
self to the utmost to deserve their esteem, and to merit
the distinguished marks of their confidence with which
on so many occasions I have been honoured.

But to return to the kitchen in the house of Sir John
Sinclair (the place where the meetings of the Board of
Agriculture are held, and where of course there is a
great concourse of ingenious men from all parts of the
kingdom, — of men zealous for the progress of useful
improvements). As the room is very small, it was not
possible to do more in it than just to fit up a few small
boilers and saucepans, and one middling-sized roaster,
such as might serve for a small family ; which last is a

128 Of the Management of Fire

machine so very useful that I cannot help flattering
myself that it will soon come into general use. The
saving of fuel which it occasions is almost incredible,
and the meat roasted in it is remarkably well-tasted and
high-flavoured.

One of these roasters, on a large scale, was put up,
under my direction, in the kitchen of the Foundling
Hospital in London ; and though I could not stay in
England to see it finished, I have had the satisfaction
to learn, since my arrival at Munich, from my friend,
Mr. Bernard (who is treasurer to the hospital), that it
has answered even beyond his expectations. He in-
forms me, that when 112 Ibs. of beef are roasted in it
at once, the expense for fuel amounts to no more than
four pence sterling; and this when the coals are reck-
oned at an uncommonly high price, namely, at is. ^d.
the bushel.

In the roaster belonging to the kitchen of the Military
Academy at Munich I caused 100 Ibs. Bavarian weight
(equal to 123.84 Ibs. avoirdupois) of veal, in six large
pieces, to be roasted at once, as an experiment ; the fuel
consumed was 33 Ibs. Bavarian weight of dry pine-wood
(equal to 40.86 Ibs. avoirdupois), which (at 4^ florins
the klafter, weighing 2967 Ibs. Bavarian weight) cost 3
kreutzers, or about one penny sterling.

This experiment was made in the year 1 792. Hap-
pening to mention the result of it in a large company
in London, soon after my arrival there in the autumn of
the year 1795, I had the mortification to perceive very
plainly by the countenances of my hearers how danger-
ous it is to promulgate very extraordinary truths. I
afterwards grew more cautious, and should not now
have ventured to publish this account, had not the

and tlie Economy of Fuel. 129

results of experiments equally surprising, which have
been made with the roaster in the kitchen of the
Foundling Hospital, been made known to the public.

Not only the roaster, but the boilers also which have
been put up under my direction in the kitchen of the
Foundling Hospital, have been found to answer very
well ; and I am informed that several other great hos-
pitals are about to imitate them. As I left London
before the kitchen of the Foundling Hospital was en-
tirely finished, I do not know whether there are dampers
to the canals by which the smoke goes off from the
fire-places of the boilers, and from that of the roaster
to the chimney. If there are not, I could wish they
might still be added ; and I would strongly recom-
mend it to those who may be engaged in construct-
ing kitchen fire-places on my principles, never to omit
them.

Oval grates of cast-iron in the form of a dish, such
as I have described in the foregoing chapters of this
Essay, were tried in the kitchen of the Foundling Hos-
pital ; but the heat was found to be so intense that they
were soon melted and destroyed ; and we were obliged
to have recourse to common flat grates, composed of
strong bars of cast-iron. Perhaps the heat generated
in the combustion of pit-coal is so intense, when com-
pletely confined (as it ought always to be in closed fire-
places), that it will not be possible, where coals are used as
fuel, to use the hollow dishing grates I have introduced
in the public kitchens at Munich, and which have been
described and recommended in this Essay.

Since my return to Bavaria, I have made several
experiments with grates composed of common bricks,
placed edgewise, and I find that they answer for that

130 Of the Management of Fire

use full as well, if not better, than iron bars. By mak-
ing bricks on purpose for this use, of proper forms and
dimensions, and composed of the best clay mixed with
broken crucibles beaten to a coarse powder, kitchen
fire-places might be fitted up with them, which would
be both cheap and durable, and as perfect in all other
respects as any that could possibly be made, even
were the most costly materials to be used in their con-
struction.

To diminish still farther the expense attending the con-
struction of closed kitchen fire-places designed for the use
of poor families, the opening by which fuel is introduced
might be closed with a brick, or with a flat stone ; an-
other brick or stone might be made to serve at the same
time as a register and a door to the ash-pit, and a third
as a damper to the chimney or canal for carrying off the
smoke from the fire-place.

I lately had an opportunity of fitting up a kitchen on
these principles, in the construction of which there was
not a particle of iron used, or of any other metal, except
for the boiler. On the approach of the French army
under General Moreau in August last, the Bavarian
troops being assembled at Munich (under my com-
mand) for the defence of the capital, the town was so
full of soldiers that several regiments were obliged
to be quartered in public buildings, and encamped on
the ramparts, where they had no conveniences for cook-
ing. For the accommodation of a part of them, four
large oblong square boilers, composed of very thin sheet
coppers well tinned, were fitted up in a mass of brick-
work in the form of a cross ; each boiler with its
separate fire-place, communicating by double canals,
furnished with dampers, with one common chimney

and the Economy of Fuel. 131

which stands in the centre of the cross. The dampers
are thin flat tiles; the grates on which the fuel is
burned are composed of common bricks, placed edge-
wise ; and the passages leading to the fire-place, and to
the ash-pit, are closed by bricks which are made to slide
in grooves.

Under the bottom of each boiler, which is quite flat,
there are three flues, in the direction of its length ; that
in the middle, which is as wide as both the others, being
occupied by the burning fuel. The opening by which
the fuel is introduced is at the end of the boiler farthest
from the chimney ; and the flame, running along the
middle flue to the end of it, divides there, and returning
in the two side flues to the hither end of the boiler, there
rises up into two other flues, in which it passes along
the outside of the boiler into the chimney. The boilers
are furnished with wooden covers divided into two equal
parts, united by hinges. In order that the four boilers
may be transported with greater facility from place to
place (from one camp to another for instance), they are
not all precisely of the same size, but one is so much
less than the other, that they may be packed one in the
other. The largest of them, which contains the three
others, is packed in a wooden chest, which is made just
large enough to receive it. In the smallest may be packed
a circular tent, sufficiently large to cover them all. In
the middle of the tent there must be a hole through
which the chimney must pass. The four boilers, together
with the tent, and all the apparatus and utensils neces-
sary for a kitchen on this construction for a regiment
consisting of 1000 men, might easily be transported from
place to place on an Irish car drawn by a single horse.

I have been the more particular in my account of this

132 Of the Management of Fire

portable kitchen, as I think it would be found very useful
for troops in camp. The Right Honourable Mr. Thomas
Pelham made a trial of one of them last summer for his
regiment (the Sussex militia), and found it to be very
useful. The saving of fuel was very considerable indeed ;
and the saving of trouble in cooking not less important.
The first experiment we made together in a single boiler,
fitted up for the purpose in the open air, in the middle
of the court-yard of Lord Pelham's house in London.

I ought, perhaps, to have reserved what I have here
said on the subject of these military portable kitchens
for my next Essay, where it would more naturally have
found its place ; but being persuaded of the great advan-
tages that may be derived from them, I am unwilling
to lose a moment in recommending them to the atten-
tion of those who have it in their power to bring them
into use.

Those who wish to know more about them may, I
am confident, procure every information they can desire
respecting them, by applying to Mr. Pelham, or to any
of the officers of the Sussex militia who were in camp
with the regiment last summer.

There is one more invention for the use of armies
in the field which I wish to recommend, and that is a
portable boiler of a light and cheap construction, in
which victuals may be cooked on a march. There are
so many occasions when it would be very desirable to be
able to give soldiers, harassed and fatigued with severe
service, a warm meal, when it is impossible to stop to
light fires and boil the pot, that I cannot help flattering
myself that a contrivance, by which the pot actually
boiling may be made to keep pace with the troops as
they advance, will be an acceptable present to, every

and the Economy of Fuel. 133

humane officer and wise and prudent general. Many a
battle has undoubtedly been lost for the want of a good
comfortable meal of warm victuals to recruit the strength
and raise the spirits of troops fainting with hunger and
excessive fatigue.

But to return from this digression. The form of the
two principal boilers in the kitchen of the Foundling
Hospital is that of an oblong square ; that form which,
on several accounts, I have reason to think preferable
to all others for large boilers, but especially on account
of the facility of fitting them up with square bricks, and
of cleaning their flues, I first introduced in Ireland in
several fire-places designed for different uses, which I
fitted up as models, in Dublin, during the visit I made
last spring to that country on the invitation of my friend
Mr. Secretary Pelham.

The first of these oblong square boilers is that which
is fitted up in the court-yard of the Linen-hall at Dublin,
as a model for bleachers. It is 8 feet wide, 10 feet long,
and 2 feet deep ; and it is furnished with a wooden
cover, which shutting down in a groove in which there
is a small quantity of water, the steam is by these means
confined in the boiler. This cover is movable on its
hinges, which are placed at the end of the boiler farthest
from the door of the fire-place ; and it is occasionally
lifted up by means of a rope, which goes over a com-
pound pulley which is fixed over the boiler at the top
or ceiling of the room.

Under this boiler there are five flues which run in the
direction of its length, and are arranged and constructed
in the same manner as the flues of the new brewhouse
boiler which I lately fitted up at Munich. (See Fig. 21,
Plate V.) There are no flues round the outside of this

1 34 Of the Management of Fire

boiler ; but the brick walls by which they are defended
from the cold air are double, and the space between
them is filled with charcoal dust.

The fuel burns at the hither end of the middle flue,
in an oval dish-grate ; and the flame running along in
this flue under the middle of the boiler to the farther
end of it, there divides, and returns in the two adjoining
flues. It then turns to the right and left, and, going
back again in the two outside flues to the farther end of
the boiler, goes out from under it there in two canals,
which, sloping upwards, conduct it to the flues of a
second boiler of equal dimensions with the first, where it
circulates, and warms the water which is designed for
refilling the first boiler.

As these boilers are made of exceedingly thin sheet-
copper, and thin boilers are stronger to resist the effects
of the fire, and consequently more durable than very
thick ones, they both together cost much less than one
single boiler on the common construction ; and Mr.
Duffin, secretary to the Linen Board, who is a very
active, intelligent man, and is himself engaged in a
large concern in the bleaching business, showed me a
computation, founded on actual experiments which he
himself made with this new boiler, by which he proved
that the saving of fuel which will result from the gen-
eral introduction of these boilers in the bleaching trade
throughout Ireland will amount to at least fifty thousand
pounds sterling a year.

In a laundry which I fitted up in the house belonging
to the Dublin Society (and which is designed to serve as
a model for laundries for private gentlemen's families),
there are also two oblong square boilers, the one heated
by the fire, and the other by the smoke ; and this smoke,

and the Economy of Fuel. 135

after having circulated in the flues under the second
boiler, passes through a long flue (constructed like hot-
house flues), which goes round two sides of the drying-
room (which is adjoining to the washing-room), and then,
passing through the wall of the drying-room into the
ironing-room, it goes off into an open chimney. As
the bottom of the second boiler lies on a level with the
top of the first, the warm water runs out of the second
to refill the first, by a tube furnished with a brass cock,
which greatly facilitates the filling of the principal boiler.
The wooden covers of these boilers, which are double and
movable on hinges, are shut down in grooves in which
there is water; and the steam, being by these means
confined, is forced to pass off by a wooden tube, which,
standing on a part of the cover which is fastened down
to the boiler with hooks, carries the steam upwards to
the height of seven or eight feet, where it goes off
laterally by another (horizontal) wooden tube, through
the wall into the drying-room. As soon as this horizontal
wooden tube has passed through the wall into the dry-
ing-room, it ends in a copper tube, about 3 inches in
diameter, which, lying nearly in a horizontal position,
conducts the steam through the middle of the drying-
room in the direction of its length, and through a hole
in a window at the end of the room into the open air.

The steam, in passing through the drying-room in a
metallic tube (which is a good conductor of heat), gives
off its heat through the sides of the tube to the air of
the room, and the water which is condensed runs off
through the tube. By sloping the tube upwards, instead
of downwards, as by accident it was sloped, the con-
densed water, which is always nearly boiling hot, when
it is condensed might be made to return into the boiler,

1 36 Of the Management of Fire

which would be attended with a saving of heat, and
consequently of fuel.

The furnace for heating the irons used in smoothing
the linen (or ironing, as it is called) is a kind of oven
built of bricks and mortar, the bottom of which is a
shallow pan of cast iron, 18 inches square and about
3 inches deep, which is nearly filled with fine sand.
The fire being made under this pan in a closed fire-
place, as the sand defends the upper surface of the
pan from the cold air of the atmosphere, the pan is
commonly red-hot ; and the irons, being shoved down
through the sand and placed in contact with this plate
of red-hot metal, are heated in a very short time, and
at a small expense of fuel.

This contrivance might be used with great success
for covering the hot plates on which saucepans are
made to boil in many private kitchens.

This stove, or oven, for heating the smoothing-irons,
projects into the drying-room ; but the door by which
the irons are introduced, as well as that leading to the
fire-place, and that leading to the ash-pit, all open into
the ironing-room.

The smoke goes off through the drying-room in an
iron tube, and assists in warming the room and in dry-
ing the linen.

As it may sometimes be necessary to heat the drying-
room when neither the wash-house boilers nor the stove
for heating the smoothing-irons are heated, provision is
made for that, by constructing a small closed fire-place,
designed merely for that purpose, which opens into the
flue, by which the smoke from the boilers is carried
round the drying-room. This fire-place (which is never
used but when it is wanted for drying the linen) is situ-

and the Economy of Fuel. 137

ated just without the drying-room, under the end of the
flue where it joins the second boiler. The opening at
the top of its fire-place, by which the flame of the burn-
ing fuel enters the under part of the flue, is kept closed
by a sliding plate of iron, or damper, when this fire-place
is not used ; and when it is used, the door which closes
the opening into the fire-place of the first or principal
boiler, and the register in its ash-pit door, are kept
shut.

That the top of the principal boiler might not be
too high above the pavement of the wash-house for the
laundresses to work in the boiler without being obliged
to go up steps or stairs, the grate and the bottom of the
flues under the boiler are nearly on a level with the
pavement, and the ash-pit is sunk into the ground ; and,
to render the approach to the opening into the fire-place
more convenient in introducing the fuel and lighting
and managing the fire, there is an area before the fire-
place, about 3 feet square and 2 feet deep, sunk in the
ground, and walled up on its sides, into which there is
a descent by steps. In two of the sides of these verti-
cal walls (those on the right and left when you stand
fronting the fire-place) there are vaults for containing
fuel, wrhich extend several feet under the pavement.
The steps which descend into this area are on the side
of it, opposite the fire-place.

Areas of this kind are very necessary for all fire-
places for large boilers, otherwise the top of the boiler
will necessarily be raised too high above the level of the
pavement to be approached with facility and conven-
ience. Steps may be made, it is true, for approaching
boilers which are placed higher ; but these are always
inconvenient, and take up more room, and cost more

1 3^ Of th-e Management of Fire

than the execution of the plan here proposed for ren-
dering them unnecessary.

The areas before the fire-place door of the large
boilers in the kitchen of the Foundling Hospital are
occasionally closed by trap-doors. As often as this is
done there must be a number of small holes bored in
the door to permit the air necessary for feeding the fire
to descend into the ash-pit ; and when the bottom of
the passage leading into the fire-place happens to lie
above the level of the upper surface of this trap-door,
the part of the door immediately under this opening'
should, to prevent accidents from live coals which may
occasionally fall out of the fire-place, be covered with a
thin plate of sheet iron.

When large boilers are fitted up in situations where
it is not possible to sink an area in front of the fire-
place, the mass of brick-work in which the boiler is set
must be raised, and steps must be made to approach it.
When this is done, the upper step should be made very
wide (at least 2 feet), in order that there may be room
to stand and work in the boiler ; and, for still greater
convenience, the steps should be continued round three
sides of the boiler, when the boiler stands in a detached
mass of brick-work. The bottom of the door of the
fire-place should, if possible, be above the upper flat
surface of the upper step ; and, to preserve the symmetry
of the whole, the ash-pit door may be in the front of the
upper step, and the passage into the ash-pit (which will
be long of course) may descend in a gentle slope. In
this manner the kitchen of the Hospital of La Pieta at
Verona was constructed.

No inconvenience whatever attends the increase of
the length of the passage into the ash-pit, except it be

and the Economy of Fuel. 1 39

that very trifling one, — which surely does not deserve
to be mentioned, — the increase of labour attending the
removal of the ashes ; but the inconvenience would be
very considerable which would unavoidably attend the
discontinuation or breaking off of the steps round the
hither end or front of the boiler, which would be neces-
sary in order to be able to place the ash-pit door directly
under the fire-place door, and to make a way to ap-
proach it.

The flues under the principal boiler of the laundry
in the house of the Dublin Society are not contrived
so as to divide the flame and cause it to circulate in two
currents. They run from side to side under it : the door
of the fire-place is not in the middle, but on one side
of the boiler, and near one end of it. The flame, pass-
ing and returning under the boiler twice from its front
to its opposite side, goes off at its end (that farthest from
the fire-place) into a canal furnished with a damper,
which canal, rising upw'ard at an angle of about 45
degrees, leads to the flues under the second boiler.
The bottom of the flues of the principal boiler are just
on a level with the pavement of the wash-house ; and
in order that they may easily be cleaned out, and the
bottom of the boiler scrubbed with a broom to free it
from soot, the ends of the flues are, in building the
fire-place, left open, and afterwards, when the boiler is
set, they are closed by temporary (double) walls of dry
bricks. To make these walls tight, the joinings of
the bricks are plastered on the outside with moist
clay.

The sides of the boilers are defended from the cold
air by thin walls of bricks covered with wainscot, and
by filling the space between these walls and the boiler

140 Of the Management of Fire

with pounded charcoal. Were I to fit up these boilers
again, I should leave this space void, or filled merely
with air, forming several small openings below, through
which the flame and hot vapour from the flues might
ascend and surround the boiler. In the large boiler
fitted up in the Linen-hall as a model for bleachers, this
alteration is also necessary to render it complete ; and
as it might be made in a few hours, and almost without
any expense, I cannot help expressing a wish that it
might still be done.

The ardent zeal for the prosperity of his country, and
indefatigable attention to every thing that tends to pro-
mote useful improvement, which so eminently distinguish
that enlightened patriot and most respectable statesman,
to whom the manufactures and commerce of Ireland,
and the linen trade in particular, are so much indebted,
encourage me to hope that he will take pleasure in giv-
ing his assistance to render the models for improving
fire-places and saving fuel, which I have had the satis-
faction of leaving in Ireland, as free from faults as they
can possibly be made.

Though my stay in Ireland was too short to construct
models of all the improvements I wished to have intro-
duced in that delightful and most interesting island, yet
the liberality with which my various proposals were re-
ceived, and the generous assistance I met with from all
quarters, enabled me to do more in two months than I
probably should have been able to have effected in as
many years in some other older countries, where the
progress of wealth and of refinements has rendered it
extremely difficult to get people to attend to useful im-
provements.

I wished much to have been able to have fitted up

and the Economy of fuel. 141

the great kitchen in the House of Industry at Dublin,
as the expense of fuel is very considerable in that ex-
tensive establishment, where more than 1500 persons
are fed daily, at an average ; but, not having time to
finish so considerable an undertaking, I thought it most
prudent not to begin it. I fitted up one large boiler as
a model at one end of one of the working-halls ; but
this was designed principally to show how a large hall
might be heated from a kitchen fire-place, and from the
very same fire which is used for cooking.* The smoke
from the fire-place is carried along horizontally on one
side of the hall from one end of it to the other ; and
the boiler being closed by a cover which is steam-tight,
the steam from the boiler is also forced along from one
end of the hall to the other, in a horizontal leaden
pipe, which runs parallel to the flue occupied by the
smoke, and lies immediately over it. In warm weather,
when the hall does not require to be heated, the smoke
and steam go off immediately into the atmosphere by
a chimney adjoining the fire-place, without passing
through the hall.

To be able to equalize the heat in the hall (which is
very long and narrow), or to render it as warm at the
end of it which is farthest from the fire-place as at that
next the fire, I directed clothing for the steam tube of
warm blanketing to be made in lengths of three or four
feet, to be occasionally put round it and fastened by
buttons.

By clothing or covering the steam tube more or less,
as may be found necessary in those parts of the hall

* This contrivance might easily be applied to the heating of hothouses,
even though the hothouse should happen to be situated at a considerable dis-
tance from the kitchen.

142 Of the Manugement of Fire

where the heat is greatest, the steam, being by this cov-
ering prevented from giving off its heat to the air
through the tube, will go on farther and warm those
parts of the hall which otherwise would be not suffi-
ciently heated. The steam tube, which is constructed of
very thin sheet lead, is about 3 inches in diameter, and;
instead of being laid exactly in a horizontal position,
slopes a little upwards, just so much that the water which
results from the condensation of the steam may return
into the boiler.*

The horizontal flue through which the smoke passes
is a round tube of sheet iron, about 7 inches in diame-
ter, divided, for the facility of cleaning it, in lengths
of 12 or 15 feet, fixed nearly horizontally at different
heights from the floor, or, in an interrupted line, in
hollow pilasters or square columns of brick-work. A
common hothouse flue constructed of bricks and mor-
tar would have answered equally well for warming the
hall, but would have taken up too much room, which
is the only reason it was not preferred to these iron
tubes.

* I contrived a fire-place for heating one of the principal churches in Dub-
lin on these principles with steam (but without making use of the smoke) ; and
I promised to give a plan (which, I am ashamed to say, I have not yet been able
to finish) for heating the superb new building destined for the meeting of the
Irish House of Commons.

One of the two chimney fire-places, which I fitted up in the hall in which
the meetings of the Royal Irish Academy are held, will, I imagine, be found to
answer very well for heating high rooms and large halls in private houses. In
this fire-place I have endeavoured, and I believe successfully, to unite the ad-
vantages of an open fire with those of a German stove. The grate used in
fitting up this fire-place, and which is of cast iron, and far from being unelegant
in its form, and which cost only seven shillings and sixpence sterling, is decidedly
the best adapted for open chimney fire-places, where coals are used as fuel, of
any I have yet seen. By a letter I lately received from a friend in Ireland, I
had the satisfaction to learn that these grates are coming very fast into general
use in that country.

and the Economy of Fuel. 143

In constructing the boiler (which is of thin sheet iron),
I made an experiment which succeeded even beyond
my expectation. The flues under the boiler (and there
are none round it) are projections from the bottom of
the boiler: they are hollow walls of sheet iron, about
9 inches high and an inch and three-quarters thick, into
which the liquid in the boiler descends, and which in
fact constitute a part of the boiler. By this contrivance
the flame is surrounded on all sides, except at the bottom
of the flues (where the heat has little or no tendency to
pass), by the liquid which is heated, and the fire-place
is merely a flat mass of brick-work. The grate is even
with the upper surface of this mass of brick-work, and
the ash-pit is the only cavity in it.

In constructing the boiler, provision was made, by
omitting or interrupting the hollow walls or divisions
of the flues, in the proper places, to leave room for intro-
ducing the fuel, for the passage of the flame from one
flue to another, and from the last flue into the canal
by which the smoke goes off into the chimney, or into
the iron tubes by which the hall is occasionally warmed.

One principal object which I had in view in this
experiment was to see if I could not contrive a boiler?
which, being suspended under a wagon or other wheel-
carriage, might serve for cooking for troops on a march ;
or which, being merely set down on the ground, a fire
might be immediately kindled under it.

Those who will take the trouble to examine the boiler
in question will find that the principle on which it is
constructed may easily be applied to the objects here
mentioned. But it is not merely for portable boilers
that this construction would be found useful : I am
convinced that it would be very advantageous for

144 Of the Management of Fire

the boilers of steam engines, for distilleries, and for
various other purposes. As the escape of heat into
the brick-work is almost entirely prevented, and as the
surface of the boiler on which the heat is made to act
is greatly increased by means of the hollow walls, the
liquid in the boiler is heated in a very short time, and
with a small quantity of fuel.

There is still another advantage attending this con-
struction, which renders it highly deserving the attention
of distillers. By making the tops of the flues arched
instead of flat (which may easily be done, and which is
actually done in the boiler in question), or in the form
of the roof of a house, as the hottest part of the flame
will, of course, always occupy the upper part of the flues,
and as the thick or viscous part of the liquor in the
boiler — that which is in most danger of being burned
to the bottom of the boiler, and giving a bad taste to the
spirit which comes over — cannot well lie on the convex
or sloping surface of these flues, there will be less danger
of an accident which distillers have hitherto found it
extremely difficult to prevent.

In constructing boilers on these principles for distil-
lers, it will probably be found necessary to increase very
much the thickness of the hollow walls of the flues,
and perhaps to make them even deeper than the level
of the bottom of the flues, in order more effectually to
prevent the thick matter which will naturally settle in
those cavities from being exposed to too great a heat.

A similar advantage will attend large boilers con-
structed on these principles for making thick soups for
hospitals ; these soups being very apt to burn to the
bottoms of the boilers in which they are prepared.

I made another experiment in the House of Industry

and the Economy of Fuel. 145

in Dublin, which I wished much to have had time to
have prosecuted farther. Finding that the expense for
wheaten bread for the House was very great (amounting,
in the year 1795, to no less than 384 1/. sterling), I saw
that a very considerable saving might be made by fur-
nishing those who were fed at the public expense with
oaten cakes (a kind of bread to which they had always
been used), instead of rendering them dainty and spoiling
them by giving them the best wheaten bread that could
be procured, as I found had hitherto been done. But
to be able to furnish oaten cakes in sufficient quantities
to feed 1500 persons, some more convenient method of
baking them than that commonly practised was neces-
sary, and one in which the expense of fuel might be
greatly lessened.

With a view to facilitate this important change in the
mode of feeding the numerous objects of charity and of
correction, who were shut up together within the walls
of that extensive establishment, I constructed what I
would call a perpetual oven.

In the centre of a circular, or rather cylindrical mass
of brick-work, about 8 feet in diameter, which occupies
the middle of a large room on the ground floor, I con-
structed a small, circular, closed fire-place for burning
either wood, peat, turf, or coals. " The diameter of the
fire-place is about 1 1 inches, the grate being placed
about 10 inches above the floor, and the top of the fire-
place is contracted to about 4 inches. Immediately
above this narrow throat, six separate canals (each fur-
nished with a damper, by means of which its opening
can be contracted more or less, or entirely closed) go off
horizontally, by which the flame is conducted into six
separate sets of flues, under six large plates of cast iron,

146 Of the Management of Fire

which form the bottoms of six ovens on the same level,
and joining each other by their sides, which are concealed
in the cylindrical mass of the brick-work. Each of these
plates of cast iron being in the form of an equilateral tri-
angle, they all unite in the centre of the cylindrical mass
of brick-work, consequently the two sides of each unite
in a point at the bottom of it, forming an angle of 60
degrees.

The flame, after circulating under the bottoms of these
ovens, rises up in two canals concealed in the front wall
of each oven, and situated on the right and left of its
mouth, and after circulating again in similar flues on the
upper flat surface of another triangular plate of cast iron,
which forms the top of the oven, goes off upwards by a
canal furnished with a damper into a hollow place, situ-
ated on the top of the cylindrical mass of the brick-work,
from which it passes off in a horizontal iron tube, about
7 inches in diameter, suspended near the ceiling of the
room, into a chimney situated on one side of the room.

These six ovens which are contiguous to each other in
this mass of brick-work are united by their sides by thin
walls made of tiles, about i-£ inches thick and 10 inches
square, placed edgewise ; and each oven having its sep-
arate canal, furnished with a register communicating with
the fire-place, any one 'or more of them may be heated
without heating the others, or the heat may be turned off
from one of them to the other in continual succession ;
and, by managing matters properly, the process of baking
may be uninterrupted. As soon as the bread is drawn
out of one of the ovens, the fire may immediately be turned
under it to heat it again, while that from under which the
fire is taken is filled with unbaked loaves, and closed up.

A principal object which I had in view in constructing

and the Economy of Fuel. 1.47

this oven was to prevent the great loss of heat which is
occasioned in large ovens, by keeping the mouth of the
oven open for so considerable a length of time as is
necessary for putting in and drawing out the bread. As
one of these small ovens contains only five large loaves,
or cakes, it may be charged, or the bread when baked
may be drawn, in a moment ; and during this time the
other five ovens are kept closed, and consequently are
not losing heat ; one of them is heating, while the other
four are filled with bread in different stages of the
process of baking.

When I constructed this oven, though I had no doubt
of its being perfectly well calculated for the use for which
it was principally designed, — baking oaten cakes, which
are commonly baked on heated iron plates, — yet I was
by no means sure it would answer for baking common
bread in large thick loaves. I had not made the exper-
iment. And though I could not conceive that any thing
more could be necessary in the process of baking than
heat, — and here I was absolutely master of every degree
of it that could possibly be wanted, and could even reg-
ulate the succession of different degrees of it at pleasure,
— I thought it probable that some particular manage-
ment might be required in baking bread in these metallic
ovens, a knowledge of which could only be acquired by
experience.

What served to strengthen these suspicions was a
discovery which had accidentally been made by the
cook of the Military Academy. In the course of his
experiments, he found that my roaster is admirably
well calculated for baking pies, puddings, and pastry of
all kinds: provided, however, that the fire be man-
aged in a certain way ; for when the fire is managed

148 Of the Management of Fire

in the same manner in which it ought to be managed in
roasting meat, pies and pastry will absolutely be spoiled.
After repeated failures and disappointments, and after
having lost all hopes of ever being able to succeed in
his attempts, the cook (by mere accident, as he assured
me) discovered the important secret; and important
he certainly considers it to be, and feels no small de-
gree of satisfaction, not to say pride, in having been so
fortunate as to make the discovery. He must pardon
me if I take the liberty, even without his permission,
to publish it to the world for the good of mankind.

The roaster must be well heated before the pies or
pastry are put into it, and the blowers must never be
quite closed during the process.

I have lately found that, by using similar precautions,
bread may be perfectly well baked in metallic ovens,
similar to that in the House of Industry in Dublin.

Thinking it more than probable that means might
be devised for managing the heat in such a manner as
to perform that process in ovens constructed on these
principles, and heated from without ; and conceiving
that not only a great saving of fuel, but also several
other very important advantages, could not fail to be
derived from that discovery, on my return to Munich
from England, in August last, I immediately set about
making experiments, with a view to the investigation of
that subject ; and I have so far succeeded in them that,
for these last four months, my table has been supplied
entirely with bread baked in my own house, by my cook,
in an oven constructed of thin sheet iron, which is heated
(like my roasters) from without ; and I will venture to
add that I never tasted better bread. All those who have
eaten of it have unanimously expressed the same opinion

and the Economy of Fuel. 149

of it. It is very light, most thoroughly baked without
being too much dried, and I think remarkably well-
tasted. The loaves, which are made small in order that
they may have a greater proportion of crust (which, when
the bread is baked in this way, is singularly delicate), are
placed in the oven on circular plates of thin sheet iron,
raised about an inch on slender iron feet. Were the loaf
placed on the bottom of the oven, the under crust would
presently be burned to a coal, and the bread spoiled. A
precaution absolutely necessary in baking bread in the
manner here recommended is to leave a passage for
the steam generated in the process of baking to escape.
This may be done either by constructing a steam chim-
ney for that purpose, furnished with a damper, or simply
by making a register in the door of the oven.

As this is not the proper place to enlarge on this
subject, I shall leave it for the present; but I cannot
help expressing a wish that what I have here advanced
may induce others, especially bakers, who may find their
own advantage in the prosecution of these interesting
and important investigations, to turn their attention to
them.

How exceedingly useful would my roasters be, and
ovens constructed on the principles here recommended,
on shipboard ! Having served a campaign (as a vol-
unteer) in a large fleet (that commanded by Admiral
Sir Charles Hardy, in the year 1779), and having made
several long sea voyages, I have had frequent opportu-
nities of seeing how difficult it is in bad weather to
cook at sea; and it is easy to imagine how much it
would contribute to the comfort of seafaring people,
especially at times when they are exposed to the greatest
fatigues and hardships, to enable them to have their
tables well supplied with warm victuals.

150 Of the Management of Fire

In order that the motion of the vessel might not
derange any part of the apparatus used in the process
of cooking at sea in my roasters, the form of the roaster
should be that of a perfect cylinder ; and the dripping-
pan in which the meat is placed should be a longitudinal
section of another cylinder, less in diameter than the
roaster by about an inch, and suspended on two pivots
in the axis of the roaster, in such a manner that the
dripping-pan may swing freely in the roaster without
touching its sides. The roaster should be placed in the
brick-work, with its axis in the direction of the length of
the ship ; and, to prevent the gravy from being thrown
out of the dripping-pan when the vessel pitches, its
hollow cavity should be divided into a number of com-
partments, by partitions running across it from side to
side.

It remains for me to give some account of the kitchen
which I fitted up in the house of the Dublin Society,
as a model for private families ; and also of a cottage
fire-place, and a lime-kiln, which I constructed as models
for imitation, in the courtyard of that public building.

With regard to the kitchen, it is necessary that I
should remark, at setting out, that it was not intended
so much to serve as a complete model of a convenient
kitchen for a private family, as to display a variety of
useful inventions, all or any of which may at pleasure
be easily adopted, in kitchens of all kinds and of all
dimensions. ' I thought this would be more useful than
any simple model of a kitchen I could contrive.

It is, however, a very complete kitchen ; and though
there are some contrivances belonging to it which might
have been omitted, yet they will all, I am confident, be
found useful for the different purposes for which they

and the Economy of Fuel. 151

were particularly designed, and in a kitchen for a large
family would often come into use.

The general disposition of the various parts of this
kitchen I consider as being quite perfect. It is the same
as that of the Hospital of La Pieta at Verona, and of a
very complete private kitchen which was built about two
years ago at Munich, under my direction, in the house
of Baron Lerchenfeld, steward of the household to
his Most Serene Highness the Elector. In my next
Essay, which will treat exclusively of the construction
of kitchen fire-places and of kitchen utensils, I shall
give a particular detailed account of the manner in
which the various boilers — steam-boilers, saucepans,
oven, roasters, etc. — are disposed and connected in the
mass of brick-work in these kitchens, and shall accom-
pany these descriptions with a sufficient number of
Plates to render them perfectly intelligible.

Cottage Fire-place and Iron Pot, for cooking for the
Poor.

The cottage fire-place which I fitted up as a model,
in the courtyard of the house of the Dublin Society,
was not quite finished when I left Ireland ; but an idea
may be formed from what was done of the general prin-
ciples on which such fire-places may be constructed.
On each side of the open chimney fire-place (which,
being small, was built in the middle of one much larger,
which was constructed to represent a large open fire-
place, such as are now general in cottages) I fitted up
an iron pot on a peculiar construction, cast by Mr.
Jackson of Dublin, and designed for the use of a poor
family in cooking their victuals. This pot is nearly of
a cylindrical form, about 16 inches in diameter, and

152 Of the Management of Fire

8 inches deep ; and under its bottom, which is quite flat,
there is a thin spiral projection, which was cast with the
pot, and serves instead of feet to it, the turns of which,
when the pot is set down on a flat surface, form a spiral
flue in which the flame circulates under the bottom of
the pot. This projection, which is near half an inch
thick where it is united with the bottom of the pot, and
less than a quarter of an inch below where its lower
edge rests on the ground, is about 4 inches wide, or
rather deep. This projection was made tapering, in
order to its being more easily cast. To defend the out-
side of this pot from the cold air, the pot is enclosed in
a cylinder of thin sheet iron, equal in diameter to the
extreme width of the pot at its brim, just as high as the
depth of the pot and of its spiral flues taken together.
The pot is fastened to this cylindrical case by being
driven into it with force, a rim in the form of a flat hoop,
about an inch and a half deep and a little tapering, being
cast on the outside of the pot at its brim, the external
surface of which was fitted exactly into the top of this
cylinder. This projection is useful, not only in uniting
the pot to its cylindrical case, but also to keep this cyl-
indrical' case at some small distance from the sides of
the pot, by which means the heat is more effectually
confined.

To be able to move about this pot from place to place,
it has two handles which are riveted to the outside of
its cylindrical case ; and it is provided with a wooden
cover.

I am sensible that I often expose myself to criticism
by anticipating what would more naturally find its place
elsewhere. But what I have here said in regard to this
iron pot is intended merely as hints to awaken the

and the Economy of Fuel. 153

curiosity and excite the attention of ingenious men, —
of such as take pleasure in exercising their ingenuity
in contriving and perfecting useful inventions, and who
delight in contemplating the progress of human in-
dustry.

Model of a perpetual Lime-kiln.

The particular objects principally had in view in the
construction of this lime-kiln (whicfe stands in the court-
yard of the Dublin Society) ^N^Q., first, to cause the fuel
to burn in such a manner as to consume the smoke,
which was done by obliging the smoke to descend and
pass through the fire, in order that as much heat as
possible might be generated. Secondly, to cause the
flame and hot vapour which rise from the fire to come
into contact with the limestone by a very large surface,
in order to economize the heat and prevent its going
off into the atmosphere, which was done by making
the body of the kiln in the form of a hollow truncated
cone, and very high in proportion to its diameter ; and
by filling it quite up to the top with limestone, the fire
being made to enter near the bottom of the cone.
Thirdly, to make the process of burning lime perpetual,
in order to prevent the waste of heat which unavoidably
attends the cooling of the kiln in emptying and filling
it, when, to perform that operation, it is necessary to put
out the fire. And, fourthly, to contrive matters so that
the lime in which the process of burning is just finished,
and which of course is still intensely hot, may, in cooling,
be made to give off its heat in such a manner as to
assist in heating the fresh quantity of cold limestone
with which the kiln is replenished as often as a portion
of lime is taken out of it.

1 54 Of the Management of Fire

To effectuate these purposes, the fuel is not mixed
with the limestone, but is burned in a closed fire-place,
which opens into one side of the kiln, some distance
above the bottom of it. For large lime-kilns on these
principles there may be several fire-places, all opening
into the same cone, and situated on different sides of
it ; which fire-places may be constructed and regulated
like the fire-places of the furnaces used for burning
porcelain.

At the bottom of the kiln there is a door, which is
occasionally opened to take out the lime.

When, in consequence of a portion of lime being
drawn out of the kiln, its contents settle down or
subside, the empty space in the upper part of the kiln,
which is occasioned by this subtraction of the burned
lime, is immediately filled up with fresh limestone.

As soon as a portion of lime is taken away, the door
by which it is removed must be immediately shut, and
the joinings well closed with moist clay, to prevent a
draught of cold air through the kiln. A small opening,
however, must be left, for reasons which I shall presently
explain.

As the fire enters the kiln at some distance from the
bottom of it, and as the flame rises as soon as it comes
into this cavity, the lower part of the kiln (that below
the level of the bottom of the fire-place) is occupied by
lime already burned ; and as this lime is intensely hot
when, on a portion of lime from below being removed,
it descends into this part of the kiln, and as the air in
the kiln to which it communicates its heat must rise
upwards in consequence of its being heated, and pass
off through the top of the kiln, this lime in cooling is,
by this contrivance, made to assist in heating the fresh

and the Economy of Fuel. 155

portion of cold limestone with which the kiln is charged.
To facilitate this communication of heat from the red-hot
lime just burned to the limestone above in the upper
part of the kiln, a gentle draught of air through the kiln
from the bottom to the top of it must be established
by leaving an opening in the door below, by which the
cold air from without may be suffered to enter the kiln.
This opening (which should be furnished with some
kind of a register) must be very small, otherwise it will
occasion too strong a draught of cold air into the kiln,
and do more harm than good ; and it will probably be
found to be best to close it entirely, after the lime in the
lower part of the kiln has parted with a certain proportion
of its heat.

Conceiving the improvement of lime-kilns to be a
matter of very great national importance, especially
since the use of lime as manure has become so general,
I intend to devote the first leisure time I can spare to
a thorough investigation of that subject. In the mean
time, I have here thrown out the loose ideas I have
formed respecting it, in order that they may be exam-
ined, corrected, and improved upon by others who may
be engaged in the same pursuits.

The model I caused to be constructed in the court-
yard of the Dublin Society is, I am sensible, very
imperfect. It was built in a great hurry, being begun
and finished the same day, — the day but one before I
left Ireland ; but I am now engaged in constructing a
lime-kiln on the same principles (for the use of the farm
in the English Garden at Munich), which I shall take
pains to make as perfect as possible ; and, should it be
found to answer as well as I have reason to hope it will,
I shall not fail to give a particular account of it to the

156 Of the Management of Fire

public, accompanied with drawings, and all the details
that shall be necessary in order to give the most satis-
factory account of the result of the experiment.

These investigations will be the more interesting, and
their results more generally useful, as the discovery of a
mine of pit-coal in the neighbourhood of Munich, which
is now worked with success, has put it in my power to
use coal as fuel, as well as wood and turf, in the experi-
ments I shall make in burning lime in this kiln.

For the information of those who may be disposed to
engage in these pursuits, I have published the annexed
sketch of the lime-kiln in question, which is now actually
building (see Plate VI.). I thought it right to do this,
that we might start fair; and I can assure my competitors
in this race, that I shall feel no ill-will on seeing them
get before me.

If I do not deceive myself, the laudable exertions of
others afford me almost as much pleasure as my own
pursuits ; at least I am quite certain that when I can
flatter myself that I have had any — even the smallest
— share in exciting those exertions, the satisfaction I
feel in contemplating them is inexpressible.

PLATE I.

Fig. i,

Fig. 2.

Fig- 3-

Fig. 4.

Fig. 6.

I

and the Economy of Fuel. 157

DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.

PLATE I.

Fig. i. A view of a double cover for a boiler or
saucepan. In this design the rim is seen which enters
the boiler, and the tube by which the steam goes off is
seen in part (above), and is in part indicated by dotted
lines. (See page 15.)

Fig. 2 shows this cover placed on its boiler. Part of
the side of the cover is represented as wanting, in order
that the steam tube might be better seen. The height
of this cover is represented as being equal to one half
its diameter ; but I have found one third of its diameter
quite sufficient for its height.

Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 are views of my circular dishing-
grates for closed kitchen fire-places. They may be
made of any size, from 5 inches to 1 8 inches in diameter,
according to the size of the boiler. The rules I have
in general followed, in determining the size proper for
the grate for any (circular) boiler, has been to make
its diameter equal to half the diameter of the boiler at
the brim. (See page 35.)

Fig. 5 is an inverted hollow cone of thin sheet iron,
which is placed immediately under the grate, its brim
being made to receive the circular rim of the grate.
When the fire-place is large, this inverted cone may be
made of fire-stone, or constructed of bricks and mortar.
For small fire-places it may be made of earthen-ware,
which is, perhaps, the very best material for it that can
be found. (See page 37.)

158 Of the Management of Fire

Fig. 6, Fig. 7, and Fig. 8, are views and sections of
a perforated tile, with its stopper, such as are used for
closing the entrance by which the fuel is introduced
into closed kitchen fire-places. The diameter of the
circular opening, or hole in the tile, may be from 6 to
7 inches. (See page 26.)

PLATE II.

The various figures, from No. 9 to No. 16 of this
plate, show the construction of an ash-pit door, with
its register. (See page 27.)

Fig. 9 is a front view of the door with its register.
The whole is constructed of sheet iron, except the four
narrow pieces at the four corners, which hold down in
its place the circular plate of the register, and the small
circular plate (as large as a half-crown) in the centre of
the register, which are made of brass, on account of that
metal not being so liable to rust as iron.

Fig. 10 is a side view of the back-side of the door,
fixed in its frame, in which the manner of its being shut
in its frame is seen ; and the iron straps, a, b, c, d, are
seen, by which the frame is fastened in the brick-work.

Fig. 1 1 is a horizontal section through the middle of
the door and its frame, and through the button which
serves for shutting the door.

Fig. 12 is a section of this button, on an enlarged
scale, showing the manner in which it is constructed.

Fig. 1 3 is the plate of sheet iron which forms the
front of the door, with the holes in it by which the
other parts of the machinery are fixed to it.

Fig. 14 is the circular plate which forms the register.
To this plate is fixed a projecting knob, or button (rep-
resented in the figure), by which it is turned about.

PLATE II.

Fig. 9.

Fig. 10.

Fig. 13.

Fig. 14.

Scale 5 inches to the inch.

and the Economy of Fuel. 159

Fig. 15 and Fig. 16 show, on an enlarged scale, one
of the four pieces of brass by which the circular plate of
the register is kept down in its place.

In constructing these register doors, and in general
all iron doors for fire-places, great and small, the door
should never shut in a rabbet or groove in the frame,
but should merely shut down on the front edge of the
frame, which edge, by grinding it on the flat surface of
a large flat stone, should be made quite level to receive
it. If this be done, and if the plate of iron which con-
stitutes the door be made quite flat, and if it be properly
fixed on its hinges, the door will always shut with facility
and close the opening with precision, notwithstanding
the effects of the expansion of the metal by heat ; but
this cannot be the case when the doors of fire-places are
fitted in grooves and rabbets.

Where the heat is very intense, the frame of the
door should be made of fire-stone ; and that part of
the door which is exposed naked to the fire should be
covered either with a fit piece of fire-stone, fastened to
it with clamps of iron, or a sufficient number of strong
nails with long necks and flat heads, or of staples, being
driven into that side of the plate of iron which forms the
door which is exposed, should be covered with a body
about two inches thick of strong clay mixed with a due
portion of coarse powder of broken crucibles, which
mass will be held in its place by the heads of the nails
and by the projecting staples. This mass being put on
wet, and gently dried, the cracks being carefully filled
up as they appear, and the whole well beaten together
into a solid mass, will, when properly burned on by the
heat of the fire, form a covering for the door which will
effectually defend it from all injury from the fire ; and

160 Of the Management of Fire

the door so defended will last ten times longer than it
would last without this defence.

The inside doors of the two brewhouse fire-places
which I have fitted up at Munich are both defended
from the heat in this manner ; and the contrivance,
which has answered perfectly all that was expected
from it, has not been found to be attended with any
inconvenience whatever.

PLATE III.

Fig. 1 7 is a front view of the new boiler of the brew-
house called Neuheusel, or rather of its fire-place and
cover (the boiler being concealed in the brick-work).
The inside door of the fire-place is here represented
shut ; and, in order that it might appear, the outside
door is taken off its hinges, and is not shown. The
two vaulted galleries, A, B, in the solid mass of brick-
work, on the right and left of the fire-place (which were
made to save bricks), serve for holding firewood. The
partition walls of the fire-place and the different flues,
as also a section of the boiler, are represented by dotted
lines. The small circular hole on the left of the fire-
place door is the window opening into the fire-place, by
which the burning fuel may be seen.

a, b, is the wooden curb of the boiler ; c, d, a platform
on which the men stand when they work in emptying
the boiler, etc. ; e, f, is a platform which serves as a
passage from one side of the boiler to the other. This
platform, which is about 18 inches wide, is 12 inches
higher than the other platforms, in order that the open-
ings g and h, into the flues, may remain free. These
openings, which are opened only occasionally, — that is
to say, when the flues want cleaning, — are kept closed

PLATE III.

Scale 6 feet to the inch.

PLATE IV.

Fig. 19

and the Economy of Fuel. 161

by double brick walls. These walls are expressed in
the following figure.

Fig. 1 8. This is a horizontal section of the fire-place
at a level with the bottom of the boiler, a, a, a, a, are
four openings by which the flues which, in the first
arrangement of this fire-place, went round the outside
of the boiler, were occasionally cleaned ; b is the canal
by which the smoke went off into the chimney.

The entrance into the fire-place, and the conical per-
foration in the wall of the fire-place which serves as a
window for observing the fire, are marked by dotted
lines. The position of the inside door of the fire-place
is marked by a dotted line, c, d. The circular dishing-
grate is seen in its place ; and the walls of the flues
under the boiler are all seen. The crooked arrows in the
flues show the direction of the flame. (See page 92.)

PLATE IV.

Fig. 19 is a vertical section of the boiler represented
in the foregoing plate (Fig. 17). This section is taken
through the middle of the boiler, of the fire-place, and of
the cover of the boiler. A is the ash-pit, with a section
of its register door ; B is the fire-place, and its circular
dishing-grate ; C is the entrance by which the fuel
is introduced, with sections of its two doors ; D is a
space left void to save bricks ; E is the boiler, and F
its wooden cover ; m is the steam chimney, which is
furnished with a damper ; R, R, is the vertical wall of
the house against which the brick-work in which the
boiler is fixed is placed ; a, b, is the curb of timber in
which the boiler is set.

The manner in which the cover of the boiler is con-

1 62 Of the Management of Fire

structed, as well as its form, and the door and windows
which belong to it, are all seen distinctly in this figure.
Fig. 20 is a horizontal section of this fire-place taken
on a level with the bottom of the flue which goes round
the outside of the boiler, in which flue, before the fire-
place was altered, the flame circulated. The flues under
the boiler are, in this figure, indicated by dotted lines.

PLATE V.

Fig. 2 1 is a horizontal section of the fire-place of the
brewhouse boiler, at a level with the top of the flues
under the boiler, after the flue round the outside of the
boiler had been stopped up, or rather the flame prevented
from circulating in it. This figure shows the actual
state of the fire-place at the present time. (See page
1 08.)

The crooked arrows show the direction of the flame
in the flues ; a, b, are the two canals (each of which is
furnished with a damper) by which the smoke goes off
into the chimney ; and c, c, c, c, c, c, are six small openings
communicating with the flues, by which the flame and
hot vapour can pass up into the cavity on the outside
of the boiler which formerly served as a flue.

Fig. 22 is a front view of the ash-pit door of this
brewhouse fire-place, with its register. This door is
closed by means of a latch of a particular construction,
which is shown in the figure.

Fig. 23 is the door without its register; and

Fig. 24 the circular plate of the register represented
alone.

This ash-pit door shuts against the front edge of its
frame, and not into it. The reasons for preferring this

PLATE V.

Fig. 24

Scale 18 inches to the inch.

Fig. 21.

PLATE VI.

and the Economy of Fuel. 163

method of fitting the door to its frame have already
been explained. (See descriptions of the Plate II.)

PLATE VI.

Fig. 25 is a section of a small lime-kiln, built, or rather
now building, at Munich, for the purpose of making
experiments. The height of the kiln is 15 feet; its
internal diameter below, 2 feet; and above, 9 inches.
In order more effectually to confine the heat, its walls,
which are of bricks and very thin, are double, and the
cavity between them is filled with dry wood ashes. To
give greater strength to the fabric, these two walls are
connected in different places by horizontal layers of
bricks which unite them firmly.

a is the opening by which the fuel is put into the
fire-place. Through this opening the air descends which
feeds the fire. The fire-place is represented nearly full
of coals, and the flame passing off laterally into the
cavity of the kiln, by an opening made for that purpose
at the bottom of the fire-place.

The opening above, by which the fuel is introduced
into the fire-place, is covered by a plate of iron, movable
on hinges ; which plate, by being lifted up more or less
by means of a chain, serves as a register for regulating
the fire.

A section of this plate, and of the chain by which it
is supported, are shown in the figure.

b is an opening in the front wall of the fire-place, which
serves occasionally for cleaning out the fire-place and
the opening by which the flame passes from the fire-place
into the kiln. This opening, which must never be quite
closed, serves likewise for admitting a small quantity

164 Of the Management of Fire

of air to pass horizontally into the fire-place. A small
proportion of air admitted in 'this manner has been found
to be useful, and even necessary, in fire-places in which,
in order to consume the smoke, the flame is made to
descend. Several small holes for this purpose, fitted with
conical stoppers, may be made in different parts of the
front wall of the fire-place.

The bottom of the fire-place is a grate constructed
of bricks placed edgewise, and under this grate there is
an ash-pit ; but, as no air must be permitted to pass up
through this grate into the fire-place, the ash-pit door,
c, is kept constantly closed, being only opened occasion-
ally to remove the ashes.

d is the opening by which the lime is taken out of
the kiln ; which opening must be kept well closed, in
order to prevent a draught of cold air through the kiln.

As only as much lime must be removed at once as
is contained in that part of the kiln which lies below
the level of the bottom of the fire-place, to be able to
ascertain when the proper quantity is taken away, the
lime as it comes out of the kiln may be directed into
a pit sunk in the ground in front of the opening by
which the lime is removed, this pit being made of
proper size to serve as a measure.

While the lime is removing from the bottom of the
kiln, fresh limestone should be put into it above ; and
during this operation the fire may be damped by closing
the top of the fire-place with its iron plate.

Should it be found necessary, the fire and the distri-
bution of the heat may, in burning the lime, be farther
regulated by closing more or less the opening at the
top of the lime-kiln with a flat piece of fire-stone, or a
plate of cast iron.

and the Economy of Fuel. 165

The double walls of the kiln, and the void space
between them, as also the horizontal layers of bricks
by which they are united, are clearly and distinctly
expressed in the figure. The kiln is represented as
being nearly filled with small round stones, such as are
used at Munich in burning lime. These stones are
brought down from the calcareous mountains on our
frontiers, by the river (the Isar), and are rounded by
rubbing against each other as they are rolled along
by the impetuosity of the torrent.

[This paper is printed from the English edition of Rumford's Essays,
Vol. II., pp. 1-196.]

ON THE

CONSTRUCTION OF KITCHEN FIRE-
PLACES

AND KITCHEN UTENSILS;

TOGETHER WITH

REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS RELATING TO THE
VARIOUS PROCESSES OF COOKERY,

PROPOSALS FOR IMPROVING THAT MOST USEFUL ART.

ADVERTISEMENT.

A LMOST four years have elapsed since this Essay
4~\. was announced to the public; and although a
considerable part of the manuscript was then ready,
yet, from a variety of considerations, I have been
induced to defer sending it to the press, and even
now the first part only of the Essay is laid before the
public.

Among the motives which have operated most
powerfully to induce me to postpone the publication
of this work was a desire to make it as free of faults
as possible, and to accommodate it as much as possi-
ble to the actual state of opinions and practices in this
country.

In proportion as my exertions to promote useful
improvements have been favourably received by the
public, and my writings have obtained an extensive
circulation, my anxiety has been increased to deserve
that confidence which is essential to my success. I feel
it to be more and more my duty to proceed slowly, and
to use every precaution in investigating the subjects
I have undertaken to treat, and in explaining what I
recommend, in order that others may not be led into
errors, either by mistakes in principle or inaccuracy in
description.

1 70 Advertisement.

I have, indeed, of late seen but too many proofs
of the necessity of adopting this cautious method of
proceeding.

On my return to England from Bavaria last autumn
(1798), after an absence of two years, I was not a little
gratified to learn that several improvements recom-
mended in my Essays, and particularly the alterations in
the construction of chimney fire-places, that were pro-
posed in my fourth Essay, had been adopted in many
places, and that they had in general been found to
answer very well ; but the satisfaction which this infor-
mation naturally afforded me has since been, I believe
I may say, more than counterbalanced by the pain I
have experienced on discovering, on a nearer examina-
tion, the numerous mistakes that have been committed by
those who have undertaken to put my plans in execution ;
not to mention the unjustifiable use that has in some
instances been made of my name in bringing forward
for sale inventions which I never recommended, and
of which I never can approve without abandoning all
the fundamental principles relative to the combustion
of fuel, and the management and direction of heat,
which, after a long and patient investigation, I have
been induced to adopt.

It would be foolish for me to imagine, and ridiculous
to pretend, that the plans I have proposed are so per-
fect as to be incapable of farther improvement. I am
far, very far, from being of that opinion, and I can say
with truth that I shall at all times rejoice when farther
improvements are made in them; but still I may be
permitted to add that it would be a great satisfaction
to me if those who, from an opinion of their utility or
from a desire to give the experiment a fair trial, should

Advertisement. 1 7 1

be disposed to adopt any of the plans I have recom-
mended, would take the trouble to examine whether
the workmen they employ really understand and are
disposed to follow the directions I have given ; or
whether they are not, perhaps, prepossessed with some
favourite contrivance and imaginary improvement of
their own ; or whether there is no danger of their
introducing alterations for the purpose of enhancing
the price of their work, or of the articles they
furnish.

These are dangers of which those who have the
smallest acquaintance with mankind must be perfectly
sensible; and it would be unwise, and I had almost
said unjust, not to attend to them, at least to a certain
degree.

All I ask is that a fair trial may be given to the
plans I propose, when any trial is given them; and
this request will not, I trust, be thought unreasonable.
And as I never presume to recommend to the public
any new invention or improvement that I have not
previously and repeatedly tried, and found by experi-
ence to be useful, it would perhaps be thought excus-
able were I to express a wish that my proposals might
not be condemned nor neglected merely in conse-
quence of the failure of contrivances announced as
improvements of my plans.

The reader will not be surprised at my extreme
anxiety to remove those obstacles which appear to me
most powerfully to obstruct and retard the general
introduction of the improvements I am labouring to
introduce ; for anxiety for the success of an undertak-
ing naturally flows from a conviction of its importance,
and is always connected with that fervent zeal which

172 Advertisement.

important undertakings are so eminently calculated to
inspire.

To this second edition of the first part of my tenth
Essay I beg leave to add a few words respecting the
soup establishments that have . lately been formed in
London and in other places for feeding the poor.

Many persons in this country are of opinion that a
great deal of meat is necessary in order to make a good
and wholesome soup; but this is far from being the
case in fact. Some of the most savoury and most
nourishing soups are made without any meat ; and in
providing food for the poor it is necessary, on many
accounts, to be very sparing in the use of it.

When the poor are fed from a public kitchen, care
should be taken to supply them with the cheapest
kinds of food, and particularly with such as they can
afterwards provide for themselves^ at their own dwell-
ings, at a small expense ; otherwise the temporary relief
that is afforded them in times of scarcity, by selling
to them rich and expensive meat soups at reduced
prices, will operate as a great and permanent evil to
themselves and to society.

The most palatable and the most nourishing soups
may, with a little care and ingenuity, be composed with
very cheap materials, as has been proved of late by
a great number of decisive experiments made upon a
large scale in different countries. The soup establish-
ments that have been formed at Hamburg, at Geneva,
at Lausanne, and other parts of Switzerland, at Mar-
seilles, and lately at Paris, have all succeeded ; and at
most of these places the kind of soup that was pro-

A dvertisement. 1 7 3

vided for the poor at Munich has been adopted with
but little variation. In some cases a small quantity of
salt meat has been used, but this has been merely as
a seasoning. The basis of these soups has uniformly
been barley, potatoes, and peas or beans ; and a small
quantity of bread has in all cases been added to the
soup when it has been served out.

No ingredient is, in my opinion, so indispensably
necessary in the soups that are furnished to the poor
as bread. It should never be omitted, and certainly not
in times of scarcity, because there is no way in which
bread will go so far as when it is eaten in soups : for
every ounce so used, I am confident that four ounces
that would otherwise be eaten by the poor at their
homes would be saved. And to this we may add that
oaten cakes, and other bread of inferior quality, will
answer very well in soups, particularly if it be toasted
or fried, and broken or cut into small pieces. If the
soup be well seasoned, its taste will predominate, and
the taste peculiar to the bread will not be perceived.

A great variety of the most agreeable tastes may be
given to soups, at a very small expense ; and, if bread
be mixed with the soup, mastication will be rendered
necessary, and the pleasure that is enjoyed in eating
a good meal of it will be greatly prolonged and in-
creased.

It is by no means surprising that prejudices should
be strong against soups, in those countries where soups
and broths are considered as being merely thin wash,
without taste or substance, a pint of which might
as easily be swallowed down at a breath as so much
water; but these prejudices will vanish when the false
impressions which gave rise to them are removed.

1 74 Advertisement.

Soups may, it is true, be made thick and substantial
with meat. But, when this is done, they are neither
palatable nor wholesome : they appall and load the
stomach, weaken the powers of digestion, and instead
of affording wholesome nourishment, strength, and
refreshment, are the cause of many disorders. They
are, moreover, very expensive. But this is not the
case with soups made thick and substantial with fari-
naceous matter, and other vegetable substances, and
seasoned and rendered palatable with salt, pepper,
onions, and a little salted herrings, hung beef, bacon,
or cheese, and eaten with a due proportion of bread.

I am the more anxious to recall the attention of the
public to this subject at the present time, as the utility
of the public kitchens for feeding the poor, which have
lately been formed, and are now forming in various
parts of the kingdom, must depend very much on the
choice of the ingredients used . in preparing food, and
the manner of combining them which is adopted by
those who have the direction of these interesting
establishments. The share I have had in bringing
these establishments into use, the opinion I entertain
of their importance to society, and the anxiety I must
naturally feel for their success, will, I flatter myself, be
considered as a sufficient excuse for my solicitude in
watching over their progress, and for the liberty I may
take in pointing out any mistakes in the manage-
ment of them that might tend to bring them into
disrepute.

ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF KITCHEN FIRE-
PLACES AND KITCHEN UTENSILS.

INTRODUCTION.

IN contriving machinery for any purpose, it is indis-
pensably necessary to be acquainted with the nat-
ure of the mechanical operation to be performed ; and
though the processes of cookery appear to be so simple
and easy to be understood, that any attempt to explain
and illustrate them might perhaps be thought not only
superfluous, but even frivolous, yet when we examine
the matter attentively we shall find their investigation
to be of serious importance. I say of serious importance ;
for surely those inquiries which lead to improvements
by which the providing of food may be facilitated are
matters of the highest concern to mankind in every
state of society.

The process by which food is most commonly prepared
for the table — boiling — is so familiar to every one, and
its effects are so uniform, and apparently so simple, that
few, I believe, have taken the trouble to inquire how or
in what manner those effects are produced; and whether
any and what improvements in that branch of cookery
are possible. So little has this matter been an object of
inquiry, that few, very few indeed, I believe, among the
millions of persons who for so many ages have been
daily employed in this process, have ever given them-
selves the trouble to bestow one serious thought on the
subject.

1 76 On the Construction of Kitchen

The cook knows, from experience, that if his joint of
meat be kept a certain time immersed in boiling water
it will be done, as it is called in the language of the
kitchen ; but if he be asked what is done to it, or how
or by what agency the change it has undergone has been
effected, if he understands the question, it is ten to one
but he will be embarrassed ; if he does not understand
it, he will probably answer, without hesitation, that
" the meat is made tender and eatable by being boiled?
Ask him if the boiling of the water be essential to the
success of the process, he will answer, " Without doubt?
Push him a little farther, by asking him whether, were
it possible to keep the water equally hot without boiling,
the meat would not be cooked as soon and as well as if
the water were made to boil. Here it is probable that
he will make the first step towards acquiring knowledge,
by learning to doubt.

When you have brought him to see the matter in its
true light, and to confess that, in this view of it, the
subject is new to him, you may then venture to tell him
(and to prove to him, if you happen to have a thermom-
eter at hand) that water which just boils is as hot as it
can possibly be made in an open vessel. That all the
fuel which is used in making it boil with violence is
wasted, without adding a single degree to the heat of
the water, or expediting or shortening the process of
cooking a single instant. That it is by the heat, its
intensity and the time of its duration, that the food is
cooked, and not by the boiling or ebullition, or bubbling
up of the water, which has no part whatever in that
operation.

Should any doubts still remain in his mind with
respect to the inefficacy and inutility of boiling, in culi-

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 177

nary processes, where the same degree of heat may be
had and be kept up without it, let a piece of meat be
cooked in a Papin's digester, which, as is well known,
is a boiler whose cover (which is fastened down with
screws) shuts with so much nicety that no steam can
escape out of it. In such a closed vessel, boiling (which
is nothing else but the escape of steam in bubbles from
the hot liquid) is absolutely impossible ; yet, if the heat
applied to the digester be such as would cause an equal
quantity of water in an open vessel to boil, the meat
will not only be done, but it will be found to be dressed
in a shorter time, and to be much tenderer than if it
had been boiled in an open boiler. By applying a still
greater degree of heat to the digester, the meat may be
so much done in a very few minutes as actually to fall
to pieces ; and even the very bones may be made soft

Were it a question of mere idle curiosity, whether
it be the boiling of water, or simply the degree of heat
which exists in boiling water, by which food is cooked,
it would doubtless be folly to throw away time in its
investigation ; but this is far from being the case, for
boiling cannot be carried on without a very great expense
of fuel; but any boiling-hot liquid (by using proper
means for confining the heat) may be kept boiling-hot
for any length of time almost without any expense of
fuel at all.

The waste of fuel in culinary processes, which arises
from making liquids boil unnecessarily, or when nothing
more would be necessary than to keep them boiling-hot,
is enormous. I have not a doubt but that much more
than half the fuel used in all the kitchens, public and
private, in the whole world, is wasted precisely in this
manner.

178 On the Construction of Kitchen

But the evil does not stop here. This unscientific
and slovenly manner of cooking renders the process
much more laborious and troublesome than otherwise
it would be ; and (what by many will be considered of
more importance than either the waste of fuel or the
increase of labour to the cook) the food is rendered less
savoury, and very probably less nourishing and less
wholesome.

It is natural to suppose that many of the finer and
more volatile parts of food (those which are best calcu-
lated to act on the organs of taste) must be carried off
with the steam when the boiling is violent ; but the fact
does not rest on these reasonings. It is proved to a
demonstration, not only by the agreeable fragrance of the
steam which rises 'from vessels in which meat is boiled,
but also from the strong flavour and superior quality of
soups which are prepared by a long process over a very
gentle fire.

In many countries, where soups constitute the prin-
cipal part of the food of the inhabitants, the process of
cooking lasts from one meal-time to another, and is
performed almost without either trouble or expense.
As soon as the soup is served up, the ingredients for
the next meal are put into the pot (which is never
suffered to cool, and does not require scouring); and
this pot, — which is of cast iron or of earthen-ware, —
being well closed with its thick wooden cover, is placed
by the side of the fire, where its contents are kept sim-
mering for many hours, but are seldom made to boil,
and never but in the gentlest manner possible.

Were the pot placed in a closed fire-place (which
might easily be constructed, even with the rudest
materials, with a few bricks or stone, or even with sods,

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 1 79

like a camp-kitchen), no arrangement for cooking could
well be imagined more economical or more convenient

Soups prepared in this way are uncommonly savoury;
and I am convinced that the true reason why nourishing
soups and broths are not more in use among the common
people in Great Britain and Ireland is because they do not
know how good they really are, nor how to prepare them ;
in short, because they are not acquainted with them.

But to return from this digression. It is most certain
not only that meat and vegetables of all kinds may be
cooked in water which is kept boiling-hot without actu-
ally boiling, but also that they may even be cooked with
a degree of heat below the boiling point.

It is well known that the heat of boiling water is not
the same in all situations, — that it depends on the press-
ure of the atmosphere, and consequently is considera-
bly greater at the level of the surface of the sea than
inland countries, and on the tops of high mountains ;
but I never heard that any difficulty was found to attend
the process of dressing food by boiling, even in the
highest situations. Water boils at London (and at all
other places on the same level) at the temperature of
2 1 2 degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer ; but it would
be absolutely impossible to communicate that degree
of heat to water in an open boiler in Bavaria. The
boiling-point at Munich, under the mean pressure of
the atmosphere at that place, is about 2093 degrees of
Fahrenheit's thermometer ; yet nobody, I believe, ever
perceived that boiled meat was less thoroughly done at
Munich than at London. But if meat may, without the
least difficulty, be cooked with the heat of 209! degrees
of Fahrenheit at Munich, why should it not be possible
to cook it with the same degree of heat in London ? If

180 On the Construction of Kitchen

this can be done (which I think can hardly admit of a
doubt), then it is evident that the process of cookery,
which is called boiling, may be performed in water which
is not boiling-hot.

I well know, from my own experience, how difficult
it is to persuade cooks of this truth ; but it is so impor-
tant, that no pains should be spared in endeavouring
to remove their prejudices and enlighten their under-
standings. This may be done most effectually in the
case before us by a method I have several times put
in practice with complete success. It is as follows :
Take two equal boilers, containing equal quantities of
boiling-hot water, and put into them two equal pieces
of meat taken from the same carcass, — two legs of
mutton, for instance, — and boil them during the same
time. Under one of the boilers make a small fire, just
barely sufficient to keep the water boiling-hot, or rather
just beginning to boil ; under the other make as vehe-
ment a fire as possible, and keep the water boiling the
whole time with the utmost violence.

The meat in the boiler in which the water has been
kept only just boiling-hot will be found to be quite as
well done as that in the other,* under which so much
fuel has been wasted in making the water boil violently
to no useful purpose. It will even be more done ; for,
as a great deal of water will be boiled away (evaporated)
during the process in the boiler under which a great
fire is kept up, this boiler must often be filled up ; and,
if the water with which it is from time to time replen-
ished be cold, this will of course retard the process of
cooking the meat.

* It will even be found to be much better cooked ; that is to say, tenderer,
more juicy, and much higher flavoured.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 181

To form a just idea of the enormous waste of fuel
that arises from making water boil, and evaporate
unnecessarily in culinary processes, we have only to
consider how much heat is expended in the formation
of steam. Now it has been proved by the most decisive
and unexceptionable experiments that have ever been
made by experimental philosophers that, if it were
possible that the heat which actually combines with
water in forming steam (and which gives it wings to
fly up into the atmosphere) could exist in the water
without changing it from a dense liquid to a rare elastic
vapour, this water would be heated by it to the temper-
ature of red-hot iron.

From the same data it is easy to show by computa-
tion that, if any given quantity of ice-cold water can be
made to boil with the heat generated in the combustion
of a certain quantity of any given kind of fuel, it will
require more than five times that quantity of fuel to
reduce that same quantity of water — already boiling-
hot — to steam.

Hence it appears that, in the formation of steam,
there is a great and unavoidable expense of heat ; but
it does not seem probable that heat is expended or
combined in any of those processes by which food is
prepared for the table, except it be, perhaps, in baking ;
and as heat is immortal, — that is to say, as it never
dies or ceases to exist, and as its dispersion may be
prevented, or at least greatly retarded, by various simple
contrivances, — it is not surprising, when we consider
the matter attentively, that most of those processes (in
which nothing more seems to be necessary than that
the food to be cooked should be exposed a certain time
in a medium at a certain temperature) should be ca-

1 82 On the Construction of Kitchen

pable of being performed with a very small expense of
fuel.

The quantity of heat, or rather the quantity of fuel,
by which any given culinary process may be performed,
may be determined with much certainty and precision
from the results of experiments which have already been
made.

Suppose, for instance, it were required to compute the
quantity of dry pine-wood (what, in England, is called
deal) used as fuel, and burned in a closed fire-place,
constructed on the most approved principles, to boil
100 Ibs. of beef. And, first, we will suppose this beef
to be in such large pieces that 3 hours of boiling, after
it has been made boiling-hot, are necessary to make it
sufficiently tender to be fit for the table ; and we will
suppose, farther, that 3 Ibs. of water are necessary to
each pound of beef, and that both the water and the
beef are at the temperature of 55° of Fahrenheit's
thermometer (the mean temperature of the atmosphere
in England) at the beginning of the experiment.

The first thing to be ascertained is how much fuel
would be required to heat the water and the beef boiling-
hot ; and then to see how much more would be required
to keep them boiling-hot three hours.

And, first, for heating the water. It has been shown
by one of my experiments (No. 20, see page 81) that
2OiV Ibs. of water may be heated 180 degrees of Fah-
renheit's thermometer with the heat generated in the
combustion of I Ib. of dry pine-wood.

But it is required to heat the water in question only
157 degrees; for its temperature being that of 55°, and
the boiling-point 212°, it is 212° — 55° =157°; and if
i Ib. of the fuel be sufficient for heating 2OiV Ibs. of

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 183

water 180 degrees, it must be sufficient for heating
23 Ibs. of water 157 degrees, for 157° is to 180° as
20 iV Ibs. to 23 Ibs.

But if 23 Ibs. of water, at the temperature of 55°,
require i Ib. of dry pine-wood, as fuel, to make it boil,
then 300 Ibs. of water (the quantity required in the
process in question) would require 1 2 ^ Ibs. of the wood
to heat it boiling-hot.

To this quantity of fuel must be added that which
would be required to heat the meat (100 Ibs. weight)
boiling-hot. Now it has been found by actual experi-
ment by the late ingenious Doctor Crawford (see his
Treatise on Animal Heat, second edition, page 490)
that the flesh of an ox requires less heat to heat it than
water, in the proportion of 74 to 100; consequently
the quantity of beef in question (100 Ibs.) might be made
boiling-hot with precisely the same quantity of fuel as
would be required to heat 74 Ibs. of water at the same
temperature to the boiling-point. And this quantity in
the case in question would amount to 3 \ Ibs., as will be
found on making the computation.

This quantity (34 Ibs.) added to that before found,
which would be required to heat the w^ater alone
(= 23 Ibs.), gives 264 Ibs. of dry pine-wood for the
quantity required to heat 300 Ibs. of water and 100
Ibs. beef (both at the temperature of 55°) boiling-hot.

To estimate the quantity of fuel which would be nec-
essary to keep this water and beef boiling-hot 3 hours,
we may have recourse to the results of my experiments.
In the Experiment No. 25 (see page 83), 508 Ibs. of
boiling-hot water were kept actually boiling — not
merely kept boiling-hot — 3 hours with the heat gen-
erated in the combustion of 4* Ibs. of dry pine-wood:

184 On the Construction of Kitchen

this gives 338! Ibs. of boiling-hot water kept boiling
i hour with i Ib. of the fuel ; and computing from these
data, and supposing, farther, that a pound of beef
requires as much heat to keep it boiling-hot any given
time as a pound of water, it appears that 3-3- Ibs. of
pine-wood, used as fuel, would be sufficient to keep the
300 Ibs. of water, with the 100 Ibs. of beef in it, boiling
3 hours. This quantity of fuel (= 3! Ibs.), added to
that required to heat the water and the meat boiling-
hot (= 263 Ibs.), gives 29! Ibs. of pine-wood for the
quantity of fuel required to cook 100 Ibs. of boiled
beef.

This quantity of fuel, which is just about equal in
effect to 1 6 Ibs., or, f of a peck of pit-coal, will doubt-
less be thought a small allowance for boiling 100 Ibs.
of beef ; but it is in fact much more than would be
necessary merely for that purpose, could all the heat
generated in the combustion of the fuel be applied
immediately to the cooking of the meat, and to that
purpose alone. Much the greatest part of that which
is generated is expended in heating the water in which
the meat is boiled, and as it remains in the water after
the process is ended it must be considered as lost.

This loss may, however, be prevented in a great
measure ; and, when that is done, the expense of fuel
in boiling meat will be reduced almost to nothing.
We have just seen that 100 Ibs. of meat, at the mean
temperature of the atmosphere in England (55°), may
be made boiling-hot with the heat generated in the
combustion of 3! Ibs. of pine-wood ; and there is no
doubt but, with the use of proper means for confining
the heat, this meat might be kept boiling-hot 3 hours,
and consequently be thoroughly done, with the addition

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 185

of | of a pound of the fuel, making in all 4 Ibs. of pine-
wood, equal in effect to about 2\ Ibs. of pit-coal ; which,
according to this estimate, is all the fuel that would be
absolutely necessary for cooking 100 Ibs. of beef.

This quantity of fuel would cost in London less than
one farthing and a half, when the chaldron of coals
weighing 28 cwt. is sold at 40 shillings. This, however,
is the extreme or iitmost limit of the economy of fuel,
beyond which it is absolutely impossible to go. It is
even impossible, in practice, to arrive at this limit, for
the containing vessel must be heated, and kept hot, as
well as the meat ; but very considerable advances may
be made towards it, as I shall show hereafter.

If we suppose the meat to be boiled in the usual
manner, and that 300 Ibs. of cold water are heated
expressly for that purpose, in that case the fuel required,
amounting to 16 Ibs. of coal, would cost in London
(the chaldron reckoned as above) just 2 pence if far-
things. But all this expense ought not to be placed
to the account of the cooking of the meat. By adding
a few pounds of barley meal, some greens, roots, and
seasoning to the water, it may be changed into a good
and wholesome soup, at the same time that the meat is
boiled; and the expense for fuel (2 pence if farthings)
may be divided between the meat boiled (100 Ibs.) and
300 Ibs., or 37! gallons, of soup.

I am aware of the danger to which I expose myself
by entertaining the public with accounts of facts, and
of deductions from them, which are certainly much
too new and extraordinary to be credited but on the
strongest proofs, while many of the arguments and
computations I offer in their support — however con-
clusive they may, and certainly must, appear to natural

1 86 On the Construction of Kitchen

philosophers and mathematicians — are such as the
generality of readers will be tempted to pass over
without examination ; but, deeply impressed with the
importance of the object I have in view, I am deter-
mined to pursue it at all hazards.

My principal design in publishing these computations
is to awaken the curiosity of my readers, and fix their
attention on a subject which, however low and vulgar
it has hitherto generally been thought to be, is in fact
highly interesting, and deserving of the most serious
consideration. I wish they may serve to inspire cooks
with a just idea of the importance of their art, and of
the intimate connection there is between the various
processes in which they are daily concerned, and many
of the most beautiful discoveries that have been made
by experimental philosophers in the present age.

The advantage that would result from an application
of the late brilliant discoveries in philosophical chem-
istry, and other branches of natural philosophy and
mechanics, to the improvement of the art of cookery,
are so evident and so very important that I cannot help
flattering myself that we shall soon see some enlightened
and liberal-minded person of the profession take up the
matter in earnest, and give it a thoroughly scientific
investigation.

In what art or science could improvements be made
that would more powerfully contribute to increase the
comforts and enjoyments of mankind ?

And it must not be imagined that the saving of fuel
is the only or even the most important advantage that
would result from these inquiries : others of still greater
magnitude, respecting the manner of preparing food for
the table, would probably be derived from them.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 187

The heat of boiling water, continued for a shorter or
a longer time, having been found by experience to be
sufficient for cooking all those kinds of animal and
vegetable substances that are commonly used as food ;
and that degree of heat being easily procured, and easily
kept up, in all places and in all seasons ; and as all the
utensils used in cookery are contrived for that kind of
heat, few experiments have been made to determine the
effects of using other degrees of heat, &&&. other mediums
for conveying it to the substance to be acted upon in
culinary processes. The effects of different degrees
of heat in the same body are, however, sometimes very
striking ; and the taste of the same kind of food is often
so much altered by a trifling difference in the manner
of cooking it, that it would no longer be taken for the
same thing. What a surprising difference, for instance,
does the manner of performing that most simple of all
culinary processes, boiling in water, make on potatoes !
Those who have never tasted potatoes boiled in Ireland,
or cooked according to the Irish method, can have no
idea what delicious food these roots afford when they
are properly prepared. But it is not merely the taste
of food that depends on the manner of cooking it : its
nutritiousness also, and its wholesomeness, — qualities
still more essential if possible than taste, — are, no doubt,
very nearly connected with it.

Many kinds of food are known to be most delicate and
savoury when cooked in a degree of heat considerably
below that of boiling water ; and it is more than probable
that there are others which would be improved by being
exposed in a heat greater than that of boiling water.

In the seaport towns of the New England States in
North America, it has been a custom, time immemorial,

1 88 On the Construction of Kitchen

among people of fashion, to dine one day in the week
(Saturday) on salt-fish; and a long habit of preparing the
same dish has, as might have been expected, led to very
considerable improvements in the art of cooking it. I
have often heard foreigners, who have assisted at these
dinners, declare that they never tasted salt-fish dressed
in such perfection ; and I well remember that the secret
of cooking it is to keep it a great many hours in water
that is just scalding-hot, but which is never made ac-
tually to boil.

I had long suspected that it could hardly be possible
that precisely the temperature of 2 1 2 degrees of Fahren-
heit's thermometer (that of boiling water) should be that
which is best adapted for cooking all sorts of food ; but
it was the unexpected result of an experiment that I
made with another view which made me particularly at-
tentive to this subject. Desirous of finding out whether
it would be possible to roast meat in a machine I had
contrived for drying potatoes, and fitted up in the kitchen
of the House of Industry at Munich, I put a shoulder of
mutton into it, and after attending to the experiment
three hours, and finding it showed no signs of .being
done, I concluded that the heat was not sufficiently
intense ; and, despairing of success, I went home rather
out of humour at my ill success, and abandoned my
shoulder of mutton to the cook-maids.

It being late in the evening, and the cook-maids
thinking, perhaps, that the meat would be as safe in the
drying-machine as anywhere else, left it there all night
When they came in the morning to take it away, intend-
ing to cook it for their dinner, they were much surprised
to find it already cooked, and not merely eatable, but
perfectly done, and most singularly well-tasted. This

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 189

appeared to them the more miraculous, as the fire under
the machine was gone quite out before they left the
kitchen in the evening to go to bed, and as they had
locked up the kitchen when they left it and taken away
the key.

This wonderful shoulder of mutton was immediately
brought to me in triumph, and though I was at no great
loss to account for what had happened, yet it certainly
was quite unexpected ; and when I tasted the meat I
was very much surprised indeed to find it very different,
both in taste and flavour, from any I had ever tasted.
It was perfectly tender; but, though it was so much
done, it did not appear to be in the least sodden or
insipid, — on the contrary, it was uncommonly savoury
and high flavoured. It was neither boiled nor roasted
nor baked. Its taste seemed to indicate the manner in
which it had been prepared ; that the gentle heat, to
which it had for so long a time been exposed, had by
degrees loosened the cohesion of its fibres, and concocted
its juices, without driving off their fine and more volatile
parts, and without washing away or burning and render-
ing rancid and empyreumatic its oils.

Those who are most likely to give their attention to
this little history will perceive what a wide field it opens
for speculation and curious experiment. The circum-
stances I have related, however trifling and uninteresting
they may appear to many, struck me very forcibly, and
recalled to my mind several things of a similar nature
which had almost escaped my memory. They recalled
to my recollection the manner just described in which
salt-fish is cooked in America; and also the manner in
which samp is prepared in the same country. (See my
Essay on Food.) This substance, which is exceedingly

I go On the Construction of Fire-places, etc.

palatable and nourishing food when properly cooked,
is not eatable when simply boiled. How many cheap
articles may there be of which the most delicate and
wholesome food might be prepared, were the art and
the science of cooking them better understood. But I
beg my reader's pardon for detaining him so long with
speculations which he may perhaps consider as foreign
to the subject I promised to treat/ in this Essay. To
proceed, therefore, to those investigations which are
more immediately connected with the construction of
kitchen fire-places.

PART I.

CHAPTER I.

Of the Imperfections of the Kitchen Fire-places now
in common Use. — Objects particularly to be had in
View in Attempts to improve them. — Of the Distri-
bution of the various Parts of the Machinery of a
Kitchen. — Of the Method to be observed in forming
the Plan of a Kitchen that is to be fitted up, and in
laying out the Work.

AS the principal object of this publication is to convey
such plain and simple directions for constructing
kitchen fire-places and kitchen utensils as may easily
be understood, even by those who are not versed in
philosophical inquiries, and who have not had leisure
to examine scientifically the principles on which the
proposed improvements are founded, I shall endeavour,
in treating the subject, to make use of the plainest
language, and to avoid as much as possible all abstruse
and difficult investigation.

It will be proper to begin by taking a cursory view
of kitchen fire-places, as they are now commonly con-
structed, and to point out their defects, and show what
the objects are which ought principally to be had in
view in attempts to improve them.

1 92 On the Construction of Kitchen

Of the Imperfections of the Kitchen Fire-places now
in common Use.

The great fault in the construction and arrangement
of the kitchens of private families now in common use
in most countries, and particularly in Great Britain and
Ireland (a fault from which all their other imperfections
arise), is that they are not closed. The fuel is burned
in a long open grate called a kitchen range, over which
the pots and kettles are freely suspended, or placed on
stands ; or fires are made with charcoal in square holes,
called stoves in a solid mass of brick-work, and connected
with no flue to carry off the smoke, over which holes
stewpans or saucepans are placed on tripods, or on bars
of iron, exposed on every side to the cold air of the at-
mosphere.

The loss of heat and waste of fuel in these kitchens
is altogether incredible ; but there are other evils attend-
ing them, which are, perhaps, still more important. All
the various processes in which fire is used in prepar-
ing food for the table are extremely unpleasant and
troublesome in these kitchens, not only on account of
the excessive heat to which those are exposed who are
employed in them, but also and more especially on
account of the noxious exhalations from the burning
charcoal, and the currents of cold air in the kitchen,
which are occasioned by the strong draught up the
chimney.

It is sufficient to have once been in a kitchen when
dinner was preparing for a large company, or even
merely to have met the cook coming sweltering out of
it, to be convinced that the business of cooking, as it is
now performed, is both disagreeable and unwholesome ;

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 193

and it appears to me that it would be no small addition
to the enjoyments of those who are fond of the pleasures
of the table to know that they were procured with less
trouble and with less injury to the health of those who
are employed in preparing them.

Another inconvenience attending open chimney fire-
places, as they are now constructed, is the great difficulty
of preventing their smoking. In order that there may
be room for all the pots and kettles which are placed
over the fire, the grate, or kitchen range, as it is called,
must be very long ; and in order that the cook may
be able to approach these pots, etc., the mantel of the
chimney is made very high: consequently the throat
of the chimney is not only enormously large, but it is
situated very high above the burning fuel, both of
which circumstances tend very much to make a chim-
ney smoke, as I have shown in my Essay on Open
Chimney Fire-places ; and there does not appear to be
any effectual remedy for the evil, without altering
entirely the construction of such fire-places.

Of the Objects particularly to be had in View in Attempts
to improve Kitchen Fire-places.

The objects which ought principally to be attended to
in the arrangement of a kitchen are the following : —

i^, Each boiler, kettle, and stewpan should have its
separate closed fire-place.

2dly, Each fire-place should have its grate, on which
the fuel must be placed, and its separate ash-pit, which
must be closed by a door well fitted to its frame, and
furnished with a register for regulating the quantity of
air admitted into the fire-place through the grate. It
should also have its separate canal for carrying off the

194 On the Construction of Kitchen

smoke into the chimney, which canal should be furnished
with a damper. By means of this damper and of the ash-
pit door register, the rapidity of the combustion of the
fuel in the fire-place, and consequently the rapidity of
the generation of the heat, may be regulated at pleasure.
The economy of fuel will depend principally on the
proper management of these two registers.

i)dly, In the fire-places for all boilers and stewpans which
are more than 8 or 10 inches in diameter, or which are
too large to be easily removed with their contents with
the strength of one hand, a horizontal opening just above
the level of the grate must be made for introducing the
fuel into the fire-place, which opening must be nicely
closed by a fit stopper or by a double door. In the fire-
places which are constructed for smaller stewpans this
opening may be omitted, and the fuel may be introduced
through the same opening into which the stewpan is
fitted, by removing the stewpan occasionally for a mo-
ment for that purpose.

Afthly, All portable boilers and stewpans, and especially
such as must often be removed from their fire-places,
should be circular, and they should be suspended in their
fire-places by their circular rims ; but the best form for
all fixed boilers, and especially such as are very large, is
that of an oblong square, and all boilers, great and small,
should rather be broad and shallow than narrow and
deep.

A circular form is best for portable boilers, on account
of the facility of fitting them to their fire-places ; and an
oblong square form is best for large fixed boilers, on
account of the facility of constructing and repairing the
straight horizontal flues under them and round them, in
which the flame and smoke by which they are heated
are made to circulate.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 195

When large boilers are shallow, and when their bottoms
are supported on the tops of narrow flues, the pressure
or weight of their contents being supported -by the walls
of the flues, the metal of which the boiler is constructed
may be very thin, which will not only diminish very much
the first cost of the boiler, but will also greatly contribute
to its durability ; for the thinner the bottom of a boiler
is, the less it is fatigued and injured by the action of the
fire, and the longer, of course, it will last ; which is a
curious fact, that has hitherto been too little known, or
not enough attended to, in the construction of large
boilers.

^thly, All boilers, great and small, should be furnished
with covers, which covers should be constructed in such
a manner and of such materials as to render them well
adapted for confining heat. Those who have never
examined the matter with attention would be astonished
on making the experiment to find how much heat is
carried off by the cold air of the atmosphere from the
surface of hot liquids, when they are exposed naked to
it, in boilers without covers. But in culinary processes
it is not merely the loss of heat which is to be considered :
a great proportion of the finer and more rich and savoury
particles of the food are also carried off at the same time,
and lost, which renders it an object of serious importance
to apply an effectual remedy to this evil.

As heat makes its way through wood with great
difficulty, and very slowly, there would perhaps be no
substance better adapted for constructing covers for
boilers than it, were it not for the perpetual changes
in its form and dimensions which are occasioned by
alternate changes of dryness and moisture ; but these
alterations are so considerable, and their effects so

196 On the Construction of Kitchen

difficult to be counteracted, especially when the form
of the cover is circular, that, for portable boilers and for
stewpans and saucepans, I should prefer covers made of
thin sheets of tinned iron, or of tin, as it is commonly
called. These covers (which must always be made
double) have already been particularly described in my
sixth Essay.

Though boilers and stewpans should never be used
naked over an open fire, or otherwise than in closed
fire-places, yet it is not necessary in fitting up a kitchen
to build as many separate fire-places as it may be proper
to have boilers, stewpans, and saucepans ; for the same
fire-place may be made to serve occasionally for several
boilers or stewpans. Those, however, that are used in
the same closed fire-place must be all of the same diame-
ter; and, in order that their capacities may be different,
they may be made of different depths.

As, in the hurry of business in the kitchen, one stew-
pan or boiler might easily be taken for another, were
their diameters to vary by only a small difference, and
were they not distinguished by marks or numbers, — to
prevent these mistakes, their diameters, expressed in
inches, should be marked on some conspicuous part, —
on their handles for instance, or on their brims, and also
on their covers ; and their fire-places should be marked
with the same number.

To guard still more effectually against all mistakes
respecting the sizes of these utensils, and the fife -places
to which they belong, the difference of the diameters
of two boilers or stewpans should never be less than
one whole inch. In several private kitchens that have
been constructed on my principles, their diameters have
been made to vary by two inches, — that is to say, they

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 197

have been made of 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14 inches in diame-
ter ; and, in order that those of the same diameter might
be of different capacities, they were made of three differ-
ent depths, namely, |, 1, and f their diameter in depth.
Not only the numbers which show their diameters, but
the fractions also which express their depths, are marked
on their handles, or on their brims.

The size of a private kitchen, or the number and size
of its separate closed fire-places, and of its boilers and
stewpans, must be regulated by the size of the family,
or rather by the style of living ; for, where sumptuous
entertainments are occasionally provided for large com-
panies, the kitchen must be spacious and its arrangement
complete, however small the family may be, or however
moderate the expenses of their table may be in their
ordinary course of living in private.

Yet when kitchens are fitted up on the principles I
am desirous of recommending, neither the size of the
kitchen, nor the number or dimensions of its utensils,
will occasion any addition to the table expenses of the
family in their ordinary course of living when they have
no company, which is an important advantage that these
kitchens have over those on the common construction.

In large kitchens with open fire-places, the kitchen
range being wide and very roomy, an enormous quan-
tity of fuel is swallowed up by it, even when only a very
small quantity of food is provided ; but this unnecessary
waste is completely prevented by cooking in boilers
and stewpans properly fitted into separate closed fire-
places.

More fuel is frequently consumed in a kitchen range
to boil a tea-kettle than, with proper management, would
be sufficient to cook a dinner for fifty men.

198 On the Construction of Kitchen

Of the Distribution of the various Parts of the
Machinery of a Kitchen.

Though the internal construction of the fire-places,
and the means employed for confining and directing the
heat generated in the combustion of the fuel (subjects
which have been thoroughly investigated in my sixth
Essay), are matters of the first concern in the fitting up
of a kitchen, yet these are not all that require attention.
The distribution of the various parts of the machinery is
a matter of considerable importance, for a good arrange-
ment of the different instruments and utensils — of the
boilers, ovens, roasters, etc. — will tend very much to
facilitate the business of cooking, and consequently to
put the cook in good humour, which is certainly a mat-
ter of serious importance.

Cooks in general are averse to all new inventions, and
this is not surprising, and ought by no means to be
imputed to them as a fault. Accustomed to work with
their own tools, they naturally feel awkward and embar-
rassed when others are put into their hands ; and to this
we may add that there is always a degree of humiliation
felt by those who, after having been accustomed to
consider themselves, and to be considered by others, as
masters of their profession, are required to learn any
thing new, or to do any thing in any other manner than
that in which they have always been accustomed to do
it, and in the performance of which they have always
acquired praise. It will not, however, be difficult to
convince those of the profession who are possessed of
a good understanding, and are above low and vulgar
prejudices, that the alterations proposed will most cer-

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 199

tainly meet with their approbation when they become
better acquainted with them.

The distribution of the parts of a kitchen must always
depend so much on local circumstances that general
rules can hardly be given respecting it : the principles,
however, on which this distribution ought in all cases
to be made -r- viz., convenience to the cook, cleanliness,
and symmetry — are simple, and easy to be understood;
and, in the application of them, the architect will have
a good opportunity of displaying his ingenuity and
showing his taste.

Should he condescend to consult the cook in making
these arrangements, he will do wisely, on more accounts
than one.

Though the smoke from the fire-places of the boilers
may be conveyed almost to any distance in horizontal
canals, yet it will in most cases be advisable to place the
boilers near the chimney ; and it will in general, though
not always, be best to place them all in one range, or
rather in one mass of brick-work.

Of the Method of forming a Plan of a Kitchen that
is to be fitted up, and of laying out the Work.

Before the plan of a kitchen which it is intended to
fit up is made, an exact plan must be procured of the
room in which it is to be constructed, in which plan
all the doors and windows must be distinctly marked,
and also the fire-place, if there be one in the room, and
the chimney. The number and the dimensions must
likewise be known of all the boilers and saucepans
which are to be fitted up in the brick-work.

The readiest way of proceeding in making a plan or
drawing of the machinery of a kitchen is to form it

2OO On the Construction of Kitchen

on the plan of the room ; and in doing this the work
will be much facilitated by the following very simple
contrivance.

Cut out of thick pasteboard detached pieces to rep-
resent the boilers, saucepans, roasters, ovens, etc., which
are to be fitted up in the brick-work, and placing these
in different ways on the plan of the room, see in what
manner they can best be disposed or arranged. As
these models (which must be drawn to the same scale
as that used in drawing the plan of the room) may
be moved about at pleasure, and placed in an infinite
variety of different positions in regard to each other,
and to the different parts of the room ; the effect of any
proposed arrangement may be tried in a few moments,
in a very satisfactory manner, without expense, and
almost without any trouble.

To facilitate still more these preliminary trials with
these models of the boilers, etc., several slips of paste-
board, equal in width to the distance at which one
boiler ought to be placed from the other in the brick-
work, measured on the scale of the plan, should be
provided and used in placing the models of the boilers
at proper distances from each other. This distance
in fitting up or setting kitchen boilers and saucepans
I have commonly taken at the width of a brick, or
4! inches ; and I have allowed the same space (4} inches)
for the distance of the side of the boiler from the out-
side or front of the mass of the brick-work in which it
is set. When this point is settled (that respecting the
distance which should be left between the boilers), the
arranging of the pasteboard models of the boilers on
the plan will be perfectly easy.

As soon as the distribution of the various boilers,

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 201

etc., is finally settled, a ground plan of the whole of the
machinery should be traced on the plan of the room ;
and a sufficient number of sections and elevations should
be drawn to show the situations, forms, and dimensions
of the fire-places, and of all the other parts of the appa-
ratus.

When this is done, and when the boilers and the
materials for building are provided, and every thing
else that can be wanted in fitting up the kitchen is in
readiness, the architect or amateur may proceed to the
laying out of the work.

As this will not be found to be difficult, and as it is
really a most amusing occupation, I cannot help recom-
mending it very earnestly to gentlemen, and even to
ladies, to superintend and direct these works.

I don't know what opinion others may entertain of
these amusements, but with regard to myself I own that
I know of nothing more interesting than the planning
and executing of machinery, by which the powers of
Nature . are made subservient to my views, by which
the very elements are bound as it were in chains, and
made to obey my despotic commands ; and not my
commands alone, but those of all the human race, to
whose necessities and comforts they are made the faith-
ful and obedient ministers.

The first thing to be done in laying out the work
when a kitchen is to be fitted up is to draw with red or
white chalk, or with a coal, a ground plan of the brick-
work, of the full size, on the floor or pavement of the
room. When the kitchen is neither paved nor floored,
this drawing must, of course, be made on the ground.
In this drawing, the ash-pits and the passages leading
to them must be marked ; and, when the ash-pit is to be

2O2 On the Construction of Kitchen

sunk into the ground, that is the first thing that must
be executed.

As soon as this ground plan is sketched out, the ash-
pit doors should all be placed, and the foundations of
the brick-work laid.

To assist the bricklayer, and prevent his making
mistakes, several sections of the brick-work of the full
size, and particularly sections of all the boilers, repre-
sented as fixed in their fire-places, should be drawn on
wide boards, or on very large sheets of paper, or they
may be drawn with charcoal or red chalk on the sides
of the room. These sections of the full size, where the
bricklayer can readily take measure of the various parts
of the work to be performed, will be found very useful.

Before I proceed' to give a more particular and minute
description of the various kitchen utensils and other
machinery which will be recommended, I shall lay before
my reader an account, illustrated by drawings, of several
complete kitchens that have already been constructed
under my direction. I have been induced to adopt this
method in treating my subject, from an opinion that
the directions which still remain to be given respecting
the construction of kitchen fire-places and of kitchen
utensils will more easily be understood when a general
idea shall have been formed of some of those kitchens
which have already been constructed on the principles
recommended.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 203

CHAPTER II.

Detailed Accounts, illustrated by correct Plans, of va-
rious Kitchens, public and private, that have already
been constructed on the Author s Principles, and under
his immediate Direction.

ONE of the most complete kitchens I have ever yet
caused to be constructed is, in my opinion, that
belonging to Baron de Lerchenfeld at Munich, and
although its general form and the distribution of the ma-
chinery are very different from any thing that has been
seen in this country, — so different that I should, perhaps,
doubt whether it would be prudent at the first outset
to recommend their adoption and exact imitation, — yet
as this kitchen has been found to answer remarkably
well, — even to the entire satisfaction of the cook, who
began, however, by entering his formal protest against
it, — I have thought it right to lay the following descrip-
tion of it before my readers. Those who are alarmed
at the novelty of its appearance will be so good as to
recollect that much may be done, as will hereafter be
shown, by way of accommodating the plan to the idea
of those to whom it is too new not to appear extraordi-
nary and uncouth.

Description of a Kitchen in the House of Baron de
Lerchenfeld at Munich.

PLATE VII.

Fig. i. This plate shows a perspective view of the
kitchen fire-place seen nearly in front. The mass of

204 On the Construction of Kitchen

brick-work in which the boilers and saucepans are set
projects out into the room, and the smoke is carried off
by flues that are concealed in this mass of brick-work,
and in the thick walls of an open chimney fire-place
which, standing on it, on the farther side of it, where it
joins to the side of the room, is built up perpendicularly
to the ceiling of the room. At the height of about
12 or 15 inches above the level of the mantel of this
open chimney fire-place, the separate canals for the
smoke concealed in its walls end in the larger canal of
this fire-place, which last-mentioned larger canal, sloping
backwards, ends in a neighbouring chimney which car-
ries off the smoke through the roof of the house into
the atmosphere.

A horizontal section of this open chimney fire-place,
at the level of the upper surface of the mass of brick-
work on which it stands, may be seen Plate IX., Fig. 5.
In this section the vertical canals are distinctly marked,
which carry off the smoke from the boilers into the
chimney, as also the stoppers which are occasionally
taken away to remove the soot, when these canals are
cleaned. These stoppers, which are made of earthen-
ware burnt like a brick or tile, are 8 inches long, 6 inches
wide, and 3 inches thick, and on their outsides they
have two deep grooves that form a kind of handle for
taking hold of them. When they are fixed in their
places, their joinings with the door-way into which they
are fitted are made tight by filling up the crevices with
moist clay. The canals are cleaned by means of a strong
cylindrical brush, made of hogs' bristles fixed to a long
flexible handle of twisted iron wire.

The open chimney fire-place was constructed in order
that an open fire might be made on its hearth (which,

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 205

as appears by the plan, is on a level with or is a con-
tinuation of the top or upper surface of the mass of
brick-work in which the boilers are set), should any
such fire be wanted ; but the fact is that, although this
kitchen has been in daily use more than five years, it
has not yet been found necessary to light a fire in this
place. When any thing is to be fried or broiled, the
cook finds it very convenient to perform these processes
of cookery over the two large stoves that are placed
in the front of this open fire-place, as the disagreeable
vapour that rises from the frying-pan or from the grid-
iron goes off immediately by the open chimney ; and
these stoves serve likewise occasionally for warming
heaters for ironing, and also for burning wood to obtain
live coals for warming beds, or for keeping up a small
fire for boiling a tea-kettle, or for wanning any thing
that is wanted in the family. When this fire is not
wanted, the register in the ash-pit door is nearly closed,
and the top of the stove is covered with a fit cover of
earthen-ware,, by which means the fire is kept alive for a
great length of time, almost without any consumption
of fuel ; and may at any time be revived and made to
burn briskly in less than half a minute, merely by
admitting a larger current of fresh air.

The convenience in a family of being able to have
a brisk fire in the kitchen in a moment, when wanted,
and to check the combustion in an instant, without
extinguishing the fire, and without even cooling the
fire-place, when the fire is no longer wanted, can hardly
be conceived by those who have not been used to any
other methods of making and keeping up kitchen fires
than those commonly used in the kitchens in Great
Britain.

206 On the Construction of Kitchen

It will certainly be confessed that neither science nor
art has done much either for saving labour or for saving
expense, either for convenience, comfort, cleanliness, or
economy in the invention and management of a kitchen
range.

Before I proceed to explain more minutely the dif-
ferent parts of this kitchen, it may be useful to give a
general idea of the whole of it, taken together.

PLATE VIII.

Fig. 2. This figure shows a front view, or, more strictly
speaking, an elevation of this kitchen. In this plan the
ash-pit doors with their registers are distinctly seen ; and
also the ends of the earthen stoppers which close the
openings into the fire-places* of four of the principal
boilers. The covers of the principal boilers,! as also of
several of the stewpans, are seen above the level of the
upper surface of the mass of brick-work.

The height of this mass of brick-work, a b, measured
from the floor or pavement of the kitchen? is just 3 feet.

Fig. 3. This figure shows a horizontal section of the
mass of brick-work in which the boilers, etc., are set,
taken at the level of the horizontal flues, that carry off
the smoke from the boilers, stewpans, and saucepans,
into the vertical canals which convey it into the chimney.

The smoke from three of the principal boilers, situated
on the left hand, is carried by separate canals to a circular
cavity, over which a large shallow boiler is placed, in
which water is heated (by this smoke) for the use of the
kitchen, and more especially for washing the plates and

* For a particular account of these stoppers, see pp. 26-158, and Plate I.,
Figs. 6, 7, and 8.

t For an account of these covers, see pp. 15-157, and Plate I., Figs, i and 2.

Fig. 2.

PLATE VIII.

Scale 40 inches to the inch.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 207

dishes. This boiler is distinctly seen with its wooden
cover (consisting of three pieces of deal united by two
pairs of hinges) in the Fig. 5, Plate IX.

The five fire-places on the left-hand side of the mass of
brick-work are represented without their circular grates,
and the eight fire-places that are situated on the right
hand are shown with their circular grates in their places.*

The fire-places of the four largest boilers, which are
situated in front of the brick-work, have doors or open-
ings, closed with stoppers, for introducing fuel into these
fire-places, and three of these openings are represented
in the plan as being closed by their stoppers ; while the
fourth (that situated on the right hand) is shown open,
or without its stopper.

As all the rest of the fire-places (or stoves, as they
would be called in this country) are without any lateral
opening for introducing the fuel, when any fuel is to be
introduced into one of these fire-places, the stewpan or
saucepan must be removed for a moment for that
purpose.

It will be observed that several of the horizontal canals
that carry off the smoke from the boilers are divided into
two branches, which unite at a little distance from their
fire-places. This contrivance is very useful, especially for
closed fire-places that are without flues under the boilers,
as it occasions the flame to divide under the bottom of
the boiler, and to play over every part of it in a thin
sheet.

The reason why flues were not made under these
boilers was to render it possible to use occasionally

* For a particular account of these circular grates, see pp. 35-157, and Plate
I., Figs. 3 and 4. In Great Britain these grates may be made very cheap of cast
iron.

2o8 On the Construction of Kitchen

several boilers of different depths in the same fire-place ;
a convenience of no small importance in the kitchen of
a private gentleman, who occasionally gives dinners to
large companies. ,

It will be perceived that, in the fire-places of all the
stewpans and saucepans, there are circular flues which
oblige the flame to make one complete turn round the
sides of the vessel, before it goes off into the horizontal
canal ; but I am far from being sure that the saving of
fuel arising from this peculiar arrangement is sufficient
to counterbalance the loss of that great convenience that
results from being able to use indifferently stewpans and
saucepans of different depths in the same stove, which
cannot be obtained while these circular flues remain.

They will, indeed, be rendered unnecessary, provided
that the flame be made to divide under the bottom of
the vessel (which may be done by causing it to enter the
horizontal canal by two opposite openings), and provided
that this canal be furnished with a good damper, which
ought never to be omitted. Although, to avoid the con-
fusion that is apt to result from the delineation of a
multitude of different objects in the same drawing, the
dampers to the canals are all omitted in these plans,
they must on no account be left out in practice, for
they are of such importance that there is no possibility
of managing fires properly without them ; and as it is
of very little importance whether they be placed near
the fire or far from it, or what is their form, provided
they be so constructed as to diminish at pleasure, and
occasionally to close entirely the canal by which the
smoke makes its escape, it is not necessary for me to
give any particular directions how they are to be made ;
indeed, their construction is so very simple, and so

Fig. 4-

PLATE IX.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 209

generally known, that it would be quite superfluous for
me to enlarge on that subject

The dotted lines leading from the front of the brick-
work to the fire-places show the position and dimensions
of the ash-pits.

The whole length of the mass of brick-work from A
to B is 1 1 feet, and its width from A to C is 7 feet
4 inches. The space it occupies on the ground may be
conceived to consist of six equal squares of 44 inches
each, placed in two rows of three squares each ; these
two rows being joined to each other by their sides, and
forming together a parallelogram. And, in laying out
the work when a kitchen is to be fitted up on the plan
here described, it will always be best to begin by actually
drawing these six squares on the floor of the kitchen.
Nearly the whole of the middle square of the back row
is occupied by the open chimney fire-place, and by its
thick hollow walls ; and the greater part of the middle
square of the front row is left as a passage for the cook
to come to the open chimney fire-place, or rather to the
stoves that are situated near it.

PLATE IX.

Fig. 4. This figure, which represents a vertical section
of the mass of brick-work through the centres of the fire-
places of the four principal boilers, is chiefly designed to
show the construction of those fire-places, and also that of
the boilers. Sections of the circular grates on which the
fires are made to burn under the boilers are here repre-
sented, and also sections of the ash-pits, and of the con-
tractions of the fire-places immediately below the grates ; *

* For an account of the utility of these contractions, see page 37.
VOL. III. 14

2io On the Construction of Kitchen

and in one of the fire-places, which is shown without its
boiler, the openings of the branched canal by which
the smoke goes off horizontally towards the chimney
are also marked.

Fig. 5. This figure shows a bird's-eye view of the
upper surface of the brick-work, with all the boilers
and saucepans in their places, except one ; three of the
principal boilers and one saucepan with their covers
on ; and the rest of them without their covers. It
likewise represents a horizontal section of the open
chimney fire-place, 4 inches above the level of the top
of the mass of brick-work in which the boilers and
saucepans are set.

It is to be observed that all the boilers, stewpans, and
saucepans are fitted into circular rings of iron, which
are firmly fixed to the brick-work ; and that they are
suspended in their fire-places by their circular rims.
All the stewpans and saucepans, that are not too large
to be lifted with their contents in and out of their fire-
places with the strength of one hand, have iron handles
attached to their circular rims; but the four principal
boilers, which are too large to be managed with one
hand, have each two rings fitted to their rims. These
handles and rings are so constructed that they do not
prevent the saucepans and boilers from fitting the
circular openings of their fire-places; neither do they
prevent their being fitted by their own circular covers.

It will, doubtless, be observed that the four principal
boilers shown in Fig. 4, belonging to the kitchen I am
now describing, differ but very little in form from the
boilers in common use, and consequently that they are
considerably deeper in proportion to their width than
they ought to be, in order that the heat generated in

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 2 1 1

the combustion of the fuel might act upon them to the
greatest advantage ; but it 'is to be remembered that to
each of these fire-places there are other shallower boilers
that are used occasionally, which do not appear in these
plans. There is, however, one advantage attending deep
boilers, to which it may in some cases be useful. to pay
attention ; and that is, that they economize space in a
kitchen. And when their fire-places are properly con-
structed, and, above all, when they are furnished with
good registers and dampers, the additional quantity of
fuel they will require will be too trifling to be considered.
The walls of their fire-places will absorb more heat in
the beginning ; but who knows but that the greater part
of this heat may not afterwards be emitted in rays, and
at last find its way into the boiler? I could mention
several facts that have lately fallen under my observation,
which seem to render this supposition extremely prob-
able. This, however, is not the proper place to give an
account of them.

As I have said that no fire has yet been made in the
open chimney fire-place of the kitchen I am describing,
it may, perhaps, be asked how this kitchen is warmed
in cold weather. To this I answer, that it has been found
that the mass of brick-work is made sufficiently hot by
the fires that are kept up in it when cooking is going
on every day to keep the room comfortably warm in
the coldest weather.

This answer will probably give rise to another ques-
tion, which is, how we contrive to prevent the room
from being much too warm in summer. By opening
one of the windows a very little, and by opening at
the same time the register of a wooden tube or steam-
chimney, which, rising from the ceiling of the room,

2 1 2 On the Construction of Kitchen

ends in the open air ; and which is always opened to
clear the room of vapour when it is found necessary,
and especially when the victuals are taken out of the
boilers, or when any other operation is going on that
occasions the diffusion of a considerable quantity of
steam. The oblong opening of this steam-chimney may
be seen Plate VII., Fig. i, in the ceiling, at the right-
hand corner of the room.

Near this corner of the room may likewise be seen a
front view of the hither end of one large roaster, and
part of the front view of a smaller one situated by the
side of it, both with their separate fire-place doors.

The fire-place door of the larger roaster, as also both
its blowpipes, are represented as being open ; but the
ash-pit door of thfs roaster is hid by the mass of brick-
work in which the boilers are set. A particular account
of these roasters will be given hereafter.

The dimensions of the boilers in this kitchen are as
follows : —

Wide at the brim. Deep.
Inches. Inches.

One large boiler heated by smoke 20 8

Two large boilers 16 16

Two ditto, used occasionally in the fire-places of the two

boilers last mentioned 16 8

Two smaller boilers 12 12

Two ditto, fitted to the same fire-places 12 6

The diameters of the stewpans and saucepans are 1 2,
10, and 8 inches ; and their depth is made equal to half
their diameters.

The fuel burnt in this kitchen is wood ; and the bil-
lets used are cut into lengths of about 6 inches.

Common bricks were used in the construction of the
fire-places, but care was taken to lay them in mortar

Fig. 6.

PLATE X.

Scale 40 inches to the inch.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 213

composed of clay and brickdust, without any sand, with
only a very small proportion of lime.

In this kitchen, as also in that which I am now about
to describe, the mass of brick-work in which the boilers
are set projects into the room from the middle of one
side of it.

Description of the Kitchen of the Hospital of

La Pieta at Verona.

PLATE X.

Fig. 6. This figure represents the ground plan of the
mass of brick-work in which the boilers are fixed, and
the canals by which the smoke is carried off from the
fire-places into the chimney. The ground covered by
this mass of brick-work, and by the area (y) between the
boilers, may be conceived to be divided into six equal
squares, of 43 inches, placed in two rows of three squares
each. In the centres of four of these squares — namely,
of those which are situated at the ends of the rows —
are placed four large circular boilers. The middle square
of the front row is chiefly occupied by the area which is
left between the two front boilers ; and one half of the
middle square of the back row is occupied by an open
chimney fire-place, in the thick walls of which no less
than six vertical flues are concealed, which carry off the
smoke from the boilers and stewpans into the chimney.

The smoke from the fire which heats the large boiler
P (which boiler is 32^ inches in diameter), on quitting
its fire-place, goes off in four separate branches, which
soon unite and form one canal, rises up under the
middle of the bottom of the neighbouring large boiler
Q, makes one complete turn under that boiler, and,
passing from thence towards the centre of the mass of

2 1 4 On the Construction of Kitchen

brick-work, circulates in canals divided into several
branches under an iron plate that forms the bottom of
an oven, which is situated under the hearth of the open
chimney fire-place. From under the bottom of this oven
this smoke goes off obliquely, and, entering the bottom
of the vertical canal p, goes off into the chimney. The
principal use of this oven is to dry the wood that is used
as fuel in the kitchen. The large boiler Q, that is heated
by this smoke, is designed for warming water for the
use of the kitchen, and for various other purposes for
which hot water is occasionally used in the hospital.

The boiler P is principally used in preparing food for
the children in the hospital.

The smoke from the fire which heats the boiler R,
passing off in a canal which leads to the boiler S, there
separates, and passing round the sides of the boiler S,
and under a small part of its bottom, unites again, and
passes off into the chimney by the vertical canal r.
The heat in this smoke, though it is sufficient to warm
the water in the boiler S, is not sufficient to make it
boil. In order that the contents of this boiler may
occasionally be made boiling-hot, the boiler has a small
fire-place of its own, situated immediately under the
middle of its bottom ; and when the water in the boiler
has been previously made warm by the smoke from the
boiler R, a very small fire made under it, in its own sepa-
rate fire-place, will make it boil. The smoke from this fire-
place goes off by its own separate canal into the vertical
canal s, so that it does not interfere at all with the smoke
from the fire-place of the boiler R ; and, in consequence
of this arrangement, the heating of the boiler S, by the
smoke from this neighbouring fire-place and by its own
fire, may be going on at the same time.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 215

The smoke from the small boiler T, and from the
stewpans U and W, goes off immediately by separate
horizontal canals into their separate vertical canals (t, u,
and w) that open into the chimney, at the height of
about 15 inches above the mantel of the open chimney
fire-place ; and all the vertical canals, by which the smoke
goes into the chimney, are furnished with dampers.

The side b c of the mass of brick-work is placed against
the middle of one side of the kitchen, which is a large
room ; and the walls of the open chimney fire-place
g h i k are carried up perpendicularly to the ceiling of
the room. The hearth / m n o is on a level with the
top of the brick-work in which the boilers are set.

As the principal boilers are deep, in order to provide
sufficient room for them and a sufficient depth for their
ash-pits, the foundation of the quadrangular mass of
brick- work abed was raised 1 6 inches above the pave-
ment of the kitchen ; and on the three sides of the mass
of brick-work a b, a d, and d c, which project into the
room, there are two steps, 8 inches in height each, which
extend the whole length of each of those sides ; and
for greater convenience in approaching the boilers the
uppermost step is made 2 feet wide, and the area y is
on a level with the top of this wide step. The ash-pit
doors of the principal boilers are placed in the front of
this step, and the bottoms of the passages or door-ways
into their fire-places, by which the fuel is introduced, are
situated just on a level with its upper surface.

The mass of brick-work in which the boilers are placed
is 10 feet 9 inches long, and 8 feet 2 inches wide; and
it is elevated to the height of about 3 feet 2 inches above
the top of the upper broad step, by which it is surrounded
on three sides, and on which it appears to stand.

216 On the Construction of Kitchen

Description of the Kitchen of the House of Correction
at Munich.

Plate X., Fig. 7, and Plate XI., Figs. 8 and 9, repre-
sent the plans and sections of this kitchen.

Fig. 7 represents the ground plan of the brick-work
in which the boilers, etc., are set, or rather a horizontal
section of the brick-work at the level of the fire-places,
and of the canals for carrying off the smoke. In this
kitchen the fires are not made on circular iron grates,
as in that just described, but the fuel is burned on grates
or bars composed of bricks set edgewise, as may be seen
by the plans. (See. b, b, b, etc., Fig. 7.)

The two principal boilers (/, /, Fig. 9) are quadrangu-
lar, each being 3 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 1 5 inches
deep, furnished with wooden covers movable on hinges;
and they are both heated by one fire. That which is
situated in the front of the brick-work, and immediately
over the fire, is used for making soup ; while the other,
which is placed very near it, and on the same level, is
used for boiling meat, potatoes, greens, etc., in steam.
A small quantity of water (about an inch in depth) being
put into the second boiler, the smoke from the first, which
passes in flues under the second, soon causes this water
to boil, and fills the boiler with hot steam. The steam
from the first boiler is also carried into the second by
means of a tube about f of an inch in diameter, furnished
with a cock, which forms a communication between the
two boilers just below the level of their brims. This tube
of communication is not expressed in the plates.

The smoke, having quitted the second boiler, rises up
obliquely to the level of the top of the mass of brick-work

Fig.

PLATE XL

Scale 40 inches to the inch.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 217

in which the before-mentioned boilers are set, and then
circulates under a quadrangular copper vessel (expressed
by dotted lines at A, Fig. 8), 27 inches long, 19 inches
wide, and 20 inches deep, destined for containing warm
water for the use of the kitchen. As this vessel stands
higher than the tops of the boilers, it is found to be very
convenient for filling them with water ; and, as this water
is kept warm by the smoke, this arrangement produces
a considerable economy of fuel as well as of time. The
water is drawn off from this vessel for use by means
of a brass cock, which is not expressed in the drawing ;
and it is supplied with water from a neighbouring res-
ervoir, the entrance of the water being regulated by a
regulating cock or valve, furnished with a swimming
ball.

The smoke, after it has circulated in flues under this
vessel, goes off into a vertical canal which conducts it
into the chimney. This vertical canal, together with
three others designed for a similar use (see d, d, d, d,
Fig. 7, and Fig. 9), are situated in the thick walls of an
open chimney fire-place («, Fig. 8), the hearth of which
is on a level with the top of the mass of brick-work in
which the boilers are set. A horizontal section of these
four vertical flues, taken at the height of 3 inches above
the level of the hearth, and also a horizontal section of
the brick-work of a roasting-machine (B, Figs. 8 and 9),
situated on the left of this open chimney fire-place, are
distinctly represented in the Fig. 9.

Under the hearth of the fire-place there is an open
vault which serves as a magazine for fuel ; and in the
front wall of the fire-place, above the mantel, just under
the ceiling of the room, there are two openings into
the chimney, by which the steam that rises from the

2 1 8 On the Construction of Kitchen

boilers escapes into the chimney, and goes off with the
smoke.

The manner in which the flues are constructed under
the different boilers, and the horizontal canal for carrying
off the smoke from the round boilers into the chimney,
are shown in the Fig. 7. The ash-pit doors to the two
principal round boilers, which are expressed by dotted
lines, are opposite to E and F, Fig. 7.

The ash-pit door belonging to the fire-place of the
large quadrangular boilers is situated opposite to G,
Fig. 7. The reason why these ash-pit doors were not
placed immediately under their fire-place doors is be-
cause there was not room for them in that situation,
owing to the pavement of the area between the boilers
being raised one step higher than the floor of the kitchen,
which was done for the convenience of the cook.

The openings for introducing the fuel into the fire-
places are conical holes in square tiles, closed with earthen
stoppers (see page 26). Though these tiles are not par-
ticularly distinguished in these plates, the stoppers which
close their conical openings are shown. As these tiles
are so worked into the mass of the brick-work as to
make a part of it, and as they are plastered and white-
washed in front, it is not easy to distinguish them from
the bricks wrhen the work is finished. Their joinings
with the bricks in front could not therefore with propri-
ety be marked in any of these plans.

Although the roaster belonging to the kitchen we
are describing is not seen, yet the mass of brick-work
in which it is fitted up appears on the left-hand side of
the open chimney fire-place in Fig. 8 ; and a bird's-eye
view of its fire-place, and of the projecting edges of the
bricks on which it rests, is seen in the Fig. 9.

Fig. ii.

PLATE XII.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 219

Description of the new Kitchen in the Military
Hospital at Munich.

PLATE XII., FIGS. 10 AND u, AND PLATE XIIL, FIG. 12.

The mass of brick-work in which the boilers, the
roaster, the stewpans, etc., are set, occupies one corner
of the kitchen, extending 1 1£ feet on one side of the
room, and 13 feet 7 inches on the other. The greatest
width of the mass of brick-work (from A to B, or from
C to D) is 50! inches, and its height from the floor
36 inches. The circular area (E, Figs. 9 and 10) in the
angle of the mass of brick-work is 6 feet 8£ inches in
diameter; and it is raised one easy step, or about 5 inches,
above the level of the floor of the room. There .is an
open chimney fire-place of a peculiar form (F, Fig. 10)
in the corner of this kitchen, the hearth of which is on
a level with, or rather makes a part of the upper surface
of, the mass of brick-work. The side-walls of this open
chimney fire-place are hollow (see G and H, Fig. 10),
and serve as canals for carrying off the smoke from the
boilers into a chimney, which is situated quite in the
corner of the room. These canals open into the chimney
about 1 5 inches above the level of the mantel.

The smoke goes off from each fire-place by two
separate and very narrow horizontal canals into larger
common canals (see I and K, Fig. 9), which conducts
it to the chimney ; and the openings of these narrow
canals are occasionally closed more or less by means of
small pieces of brick or of earthen-ware, which serve
instead of dampers, but which are not expressed in the
plates. The fires all burn on flat grates, composed of
bricks or thin tiles set edgewise. To save expense, the

22O On the Construction of Kitchen

covers of the boilers and stewpans were all made of
wood. The oblong quadrangular vessel (see L, Figs.
10 and n), which is made of copper, and has a door
above movable on hinges, is destined for containing
warm water for the use of the kitchen, and is heated by
the smoke from all the neighbouring closed fire-places.

The fire-place of the roaster is seen in Fig. 9 (M) ; a
bird's-eye view of the top of the roaster appears in Fig.
10, and a vertical section of it and of its flues are faintly
marked by dotted lines in Fig. 1 1.

The two large shallow stewpans (N, O, Fig. 10), verti-
cal sections of which and of their fire-places are faintly
marked by dotted lines in Fig. n, are constructed of
hammered iron, and are used principally for cooking
steam dumplings (dampf-nudels), a kind of food in great
repute in Bavaria.

When any thing is to be fried or broiled, a fire is
made on the hearth of the open chimney fire-place.
Under this hearth there is a small vault which serves
for holding the wood that is wanted for fuel ; but it
would have been much better if that space had been
occupied by two circular closed fire-places, so con-
structed as to be used occasionally for a frying-pan or
a gridiron.

Description of a detached Part of the Kitchen of the
Military Academy at Munich.

PLATE XIII.

Fig. 1 3. This figure is the ground plan of a mass of
brick-work occupying a space about 6 feet 9 inches
square, measured on the floor, in one corner of the

Fig. 13-

PLATE XIII.

Fig. 12.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 221

room, in which two of the principal boilers belonging
to the kitchen, and three large stewpans, are fixed.

A and B are two steps, each 8 inches high, and the
upper (flat) surface of the mass of brick-work, in which
the boilers are set, and which is 45 inches wide, is just
30 inches above the level of the upper surface of the
step B.

Neither the boilers nor stewpans are shown in this
plan, but their circular fire-places are represented, as
also their circular dishing iron grates, on which the fuel
is burned, and the horizontal canals by which the smoke
passes off into the chimney.

The smoke divides under each of the two principal
boilers, and passes off in two canals situated on opposite
sides of the fire-place ; which canals, however, unite and
form one single canal at a small distance from the boiler.
In the fire-places of the stewpans the smoke does not
divide in this manner; but the fire-place is so constructed
that the flame makes one complete turn round the stew-
pan before it goes off into the horizontal canal leading
to the chimney.

The opening by which the fuel is introduced into the
fire-place of each of the two large boilers is closed by a
conical stopper (constructed of fire-stone), represented
in the figure, immediately under which stopper the
(register) door of the ash-pit is situated.

The ash-pit of each of the fire-places of the stewpans
is furnished with a register door. The passages into
these ash-pits are expressed in the figure by dotted lines.
The fuel (which is small pieces of wood about 5 inches
in length) is introduced into the fire-place from above
by removing the stewpan for a moment for that purpose.

The chimney C, by which the smoke goes off, is

222 On the Construction of Kitchen

situated in a corner of the room ; and, when it is swept,
the chimney-sweeper enters it by a door-way, which is
situated in front, just above the level of the upper surface
of the mass of brick- work, and which is closed by an
iron door.

Each of the horizontal canals, by which the smoke is
carried off from the fire-places of the two large boilers
into the chimney, is furnished with a damper, which is
faintly marked in the figure. Each of the horizontal
canals, which carry off the smoke from the fire-places
of the stewpans, is likewise furnished with a damper;
but, to avoid confusion, they are not expressed in the
engraving.

The bottoms of the ash-pit doors of the fire-places of
the three stewpans are on a level with the upper surface
of the step B ; but the bottoms of the ash-pit doors of
the fire-places of the two large boilers are on a level
with the pavement of the kitchen.

The two large boilers (which are constructed of sheet
copper, tinned) are 22 Rhinland inches in diameter
above, 19^ inches in diameter below, and 24 inches
deep. They weigh each 62 Ibs. avoirdupois, and
contain 28 wine-gallons. The circular dishing-grates
belonging to their fire-places are each 10 inches in
diameter, measured externally ; and the fire-place, prop-
erly so called, or the cavity in which the burning fuel
is confined, is 10 inches in diameter below, 18 inches
in diameter above, and 8| inches deep.

The largest stewpan is 12 inches in diameter, and
4 inches deep ; and the two others are each 1 1 inches
in diameter and 4 inches deep.

The fire-places belonging to the stewpans are cylin-
drical, 5 inches deep and 6 inches in diameter, and
are furnished with circular dishing-grates.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 223

Each of the. large boilers is furnished with a circular
wooden rim, 2 inches wide and 2 inches thick, which
is accurately fitted to the brim of the boiler; and
a circular wooden cover, consisting of three pieces
of deal board attached to each other by two pairs of
hinges, closes the boiler by being fitted accurately to
the upper surface of its circular wooden rim.

One of the three pieces of board, which together
form the flat circular cover of the boiler, is firmly fast-
ened down to the wooden rim of the boiler, by means
of two small hooks of iron ; and from the middle of this
part of the cover, so fastened down, a long tin tube,
about \\ inches in diameter, rises up perpendicularly
to the ceiling of the room, and carries off the steam
from the boiler out of the kitchen.

As the cover of the boiler is composed of three flat
pieces of board united by hinges, and as the cover,
so formed, is merely laid down on the flat surface of
the wooden rim which is connected with the brim of
the boiler, it might very naturally be expected that
some of the steam would be forced through between
the joinings of the cover, or between the cover and the
wooden rim ; but this is what never happens. So far
from it, steam seldom comes into the room even when
the cover of the boiler is in part removed, by laying
back the first division of it upon the second, — so strong
is the draught of the steam-tube.

This phenomenon, which rather surprised me when
I first observed it, was of considerable use to me ; for it
led me to discover the utility of dampers in the tubes
or chimneys that are destined for carrying off the steam
from boilers, and more especially from such boilers
whose covers are not perfectly air-tight. If these steam-

224 @n the Construction of Kitchen

chimneys are of any considerable length, they cannot
fail to occasion a strong draught through them, which
will have a tendency to cause the cold air of the atmos-
phere to press in by every crevice between the brim of
the boiler and its cover ; which streams of cold air, being
precipitated upon the surface of the boiling liquid, will
be there warmed, and then passing off rapidly by the
steam-chimney will occasion a very considerable loss of
heat.

The rule for regulating the damper of the steam-
chimney of a boiler, whose cover is not steam-tight, is
this : close the damper just so much that closing it any
more would cause some steam to be driven out between
the joinings of the brim of the boiler and its cover.
When this is 'done; it is evident that little or no cold
air can enter the boiler by any small crevices in its
cover that may remain open, consequently little or no
heat will be carried off by the air of the atmosphere
from the surface of the hot liquid.

I have been the more particular in explaining this
matter, as I am persuaded that a great deal of heat is
frequently lost in boiling and evaporating liquids, by
causing or permitting the cold air of the atmosphere to
come into contact with the surface of the hot liquid.

Some, I know, are of opinion that a stream of fresh
air or a wind, which is made to pass over the surface
of a liquid that is evaporated by boiling, tends rather
to increase the evaporation than to diminish it ; but it
appears to me that there are strong reasons to conclude
that this opinion is erroneous. A very simple experi-
ment which I propose to make, and which others may
perhaps be induced to make before I can find leisure
to attend to it, will determine the fact.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 225

The large boiler belonging to the fire-place, which is
situated on the left hand in the mass of brick-work above
described, is that which was used in the experiment
mentioned on page 8.

It was once my intention to have published drawings
and descriptions of every part and detail of the kitchen
of the Military Academy at Munich, and also that of
the House of Industry in that city. But as enough has
already been said in this and in my sixth Essay to
give clear and distinct ideas of the fundamental prin-
ciples on which all the essential parts of the machinery
in those kitchens were constructed ; and as the peculiar
arrangement of a kitchen must ever depend much on
its size, and on the variety and kinds of food that are
to be cooked in it, to avoid being tedious and tiresome
to my readers, I have, after mature deliberation, con-
cluded that it will be best to suppress these details.

Having now finished all the descriptions which I
think it useful to publish of the various public and
private kitchens that have been constructed under my
direction in foreign countries, and having explained in
the most ample manner in this Essay, and in my other
writings on the management of fire, all the leading
principles according to which, in my opinion, kitchens
and fire-places of all kinds should be constructed, I
shall in the next place proceed to show in what manner
my plans may be so modified and accommodated to
the opinions and practices in this country as to remove
the objections that will probably be made to them, and
facilitate their gradual introduction into general use.

I am well aware that it is by no means enough for
those who propose improvements to the public to be in
the right in regard to the intrinsic merit of their plans:

VOL. III. 15

226 On the Construction of Kitchen

much must be done to prepare the way for, and to
facilitate their introduction, or all their labours will be
in vain.

CHAPTER III.

Of the Alterations and Improvements that may be made
in the Kitchen Fire-places now in common Use in Great
Britain. — All Improvement in Kitchen Fire-places
impossible, as long as they continue to be incumbered
with Smoke-jacks. — They occasion an enormous Waste
of Fuel. — Common Jacks, that go with a Weight,
are much better: — Ovens and Boilers that are con-
nected with a Kitchen Range should be detached from
it, and heated each by its own separate Fire. — The
closed Fire-places for iron Ovens and Roasters can
hardly be made too small. — Of the various Means
that may be used for improving the large open Fire-
places of Kitchens. — Of the Cottage Fire-places now
in common Use, and of the Means of improving them.
— Of the very great Use that small Ovens constructed
of thin sheet Iron would be to Cottagers. — Of the
great Importance of improving the Implements and
Utensils used by the Poor in cooking their Food. —
No Improvement in their Method of preparing their
Food possible without it . — Description of an Oven
suitable for a poor Family, with an Estimate of the
Cost of it. — Of Nests of three or four small Ovens
heated by one Fire. — Of the Utility of these Nests of
Ovens in the Kitchens of private Families. — They
may be fitted up at a very small Expense. — Occa-

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 227

sional Remarks respecting the Materials proper to be
used in constructing the Sides and Backs of open
Chimney Fire-places.

THE kitchen fire-place of a family in easy circum-
stances in this country consists almost universally
of a long grate, called a kitchen range, for burning coals,
placed in a wide and deep open chimney, with a very
high mantel. The front and bottom bars of the grate are
commonly made of hammered iron, and the back of the
grate (which usually slopes backwards) of a plate of cast
iron ; and sometimes there is a vertical plate of iron,
movable by means of a rack in the cavity of the grate,
by means of which plate the capacity, or rather the
length of that part of the grate that is occupied by the
burning fuel, may occasionally be diminished. At one
end of the grate there is commonly an iron oven, which
is heated by the fire in the grate ; and sometimes there
is a boiler situated in a similar manner at the other
end of it. To complete the machinery (which in every
part and detail of it seems to have been calculated for
the express purpose of devouring fuel), a smoke-jack is
placed in the chimney!

I shall begin my observations on the smoke-jack.

No human invention that ever came to my knowledge
appears to me to be so absurd as this. A wind-mill is
certainly a very useful contrivance, but were it proposed
to turn a wind-mill by an artificial current of air, how
ridiculous would the scheme appear! What an enor-
mous force would necessarily be wasted in giving ve-
locity to a stream of air sufficient to cause the mill to
work with effect ! A smoke-jack is, however, neither
more nor less than a wind-mill, carried round by an

228 On the Construction of Kitchen

artificial current of air; and to this we may add that
the current of air which goes up a chimney, in conse-
quence of the combustion of fuel in an open chimney
fire-place, is produced in the most expensive and dis-
advantageous manner that can well be imagined. It
would not be difficult to prove that much less than one
thousandth part of the fuel that is necessary to be burned
in an open chimney fire-place, in order to cause a smoke-
jack to turn a loaded spit, would answer to make the
spit go round, were the force evolved in the combustion
of the fuel properly directed, — through the medium of
a steam-engine, for instance.

But it is not merely the waste of power or of mechan-
ical force, that unavoidably attends the use of smoke-
jacks, that may be objected to them : they are very
inconvenient in many respects ; they frequently render
it necessary to make a great fire in the kitchen, when
otherwise a great fire would not be wanted ; they very
frequently cause chimneys to smoke, and always render
a stronger current of air up the chimney necessary than
would be so merely for the combustion of the fuel wanted
for the purposes of cooking ; consequently they increase
the currents of cold air from the doors and windows to
the fire-place ; and, lastly, they are troublesome, noisy,
expensive, frequently out of order, and never do the
work they are meant to perform with half so much
certainty and precision as it would be done by a com-
mon jack, moved by a weight or a spring.

There is, I know, an objection to common jacks that
is well founded, which is, that they require frequent
winding up ; but for this there is an easy remedy. A
jack may without any difficulty (merely by using a
greater weight and a greater combination of pulleys)

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 229

be made to run almost any length of time : a whole day
for instance, or even longer ; and, if it should be neces-
sary, the weight may be at a considerable distance from
the kitchen. It may indifferently be raised up into the
air, descend into a well, or may be made to descend
along an inclined plane ; and but little ingenuity will
be required to contrive and dispose of the machinery
in such a manner as to keep it out of the way, and, if it
should be required, completely out of sight ; and, with
regard to the winding up of such a jack as I here
recommend (that is, to go a whole day), it may easily
be done by any servant of the house in less than five
minutes.

Incomparably less labour will be required to wind
up the weight of a common jack than to bring coals to
feed the fire that is requisite to make a smoke-jack go.

I know that it is said in favour of smoke-jacks, that
all the fire that is required to make them perform would
be necessary in the kitchen for other purposes, and
consequently that they occasion no additional expense
of fuel ; but that this statement is very far indeed from
being accurate will be evident to any person who will
take the trouble to examine the matter with care. That
the sails of a smoke -jack will turn round with the
application of a very small force, when the pivots on
which its axle-tree rests are well constructed, and when
its motion is not impeded by any load, is very true ;
but it requires a very different degree of force to move
it when it is obliged to carry round one, or perhaps
two or three, loaded spits. Even the heat given off to
the air by the kitchen range in cooking, after the fire
is gone out, will sometimes keep up the motion of the
sails of the smoke-jack for many hours. But what a

230 On the Construction of Kitchen

striking proof is this of the enormous waste of fuel in
kitchens in this country !

Would to God that I could contrive to fix the public
attention on this subject.

Nothing surely is so disgraceful to society and to
individuals as unmeaning wastefulness.

But to return to the attack of my smoke -jack ; which
(although it be a wind-mill] is certainly not a giant, and
cannot be personally formidable, however it may expose
me to another species of danger.

There is one objection to smoke-jacks that must
be quite conclusive wherever the improvements I have
recommended, and shall recommend, in kitchen fire-
places, are to be introduced. Where smoke-jacks exist,
these improvements cannot be introduced, it being quite
impracticable to unite them.

On a supposition that I have gained my point, and
that the smoke-jack is to be removed, I shall now pro-
ceed to propose several alterations and improvements
that may be made in the kitchen range.

And, first, all ovens, boilers, steam-boilers, etc., which
are connected with the back and ends of the range,
and heated by the fire made in the grate, should be
detached from it ; and for each of the ovens, boilers, etc.,
a small, separate, closed fire-place must be constructed,
situated directly under the oven or boiler, and furnished
with a separate canal for carrying its smoke into the
kitchen chimney, which separate canal may open into
the chimney about a foot above the level of the mantel.

There is nothing so wasteful as the attempt to heat
ovens and boilers by heat drawn off laterally from a fire
in an open grate. The consumption of fuel is enormous,
to say nothing of the expense of the machinery, and the

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 231

inconvenience that must frequently arise from the heat
being forcibly drawn away sidewise under an oven or
boiler, when it is wanted elsewhere.

The separate closed fire-place under iron ovens and
roasters must be made very small, otherwise the cook
or his assistants will sometimes, in the hurry of business,
make too large a fire ; the consequences of which will
be the spoiling of the food, and the burning and destroy-
ing of the oven or roaster.

Almost all the roasters that have been put up in
England have been spoiled in consequence of their
fire-places being made too large; and not one has ever
received the slightest accident or injury, or failed to
perform to entire satisfaction, that has been heated by
a very small fire, and never overheated.

The fire-place for an oven or roaster of sheet iron,
from 1 8 to 20 inches wide, and from 24 to 30 inches
long, should never be more than 6 inches wide, 6 inches
deep, and about 9, or at most 10, inches long; and this
fire-place should seldom be half filled with coals. If
the oven or roaster be set in such a manner that the
flame or smoke from the fire must necessarily spread
round it and embrace it on every side, there will be no
want of heat for any of the common purposes of cookery,
and its intensity may at all times be regulated by means
of the damper in the chimney and the register in the
ash-pit door.

It is not easy to imagine how much the business
of cooking is facilitated by making the machinery so
perfect that the quantity of heat may at any time be
regulated with certainty merely by registers and damp-
ers, and without adding to or diminishing the quantity
of fuel in the fire-place. It is on these advantages, and

232 On the Construction of Kitchen

the numerous other conveniences that will result from
them, that my hopes are principally founded of gaining
over the cooks, and engaging their cordial assistance
in bringing forward into general use the improvements
I recommend. I am well aware of their influence, and
of the importance of their co-operation.

When all the ovens and fixed boilers are detached
from the kitchen range, then, and not before, measures
may be taken with some prospect of success for improv-
ing the kitchen fire-place, so as to economize fuel, and
prevent the kitchen chimney from smoking, if it has
that fault ; and the measures proper to be adopted for
obtaining those ends must depend principally on the
size, or rather on the width, of the open fire that will
be wanted in the kitchen. Where the family is small,
and where great dinners are seldom or never given, and
especially where closed roasters are introduced, a small
fire-place, and consequently a narrow grate, will answer
every purpose that can be wanted ; and the fire-place of
the kitchen may be fitted up nearly upon the principles
laid down in my fourth Essay, on the construction of
open chimney fire-places.

The kitchen of Mr. Summers, ironmonger, of New
Bond Street (No. 98), has been fitted up in this manner,
and has been found to answer perfectly well.

But if it be necessary to leave the grate of the kitchen
range with its width undiminished, in order that a wide
fire may occasionally be lighted in it, this can best be
done in the manner that was lately adopted in altering
and fitting up the kitchen in the house of the Countess
of Morton in Park Street. The range being suffered
to remain (or rather the front and bottom bars of the
grate only, for the iron plate that formed the back of

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 233

the range was taken away), the range, which is about
5 feet long, was divided into three unequal parts,
which parts were built up with hard fire-bricks in such
a manner as to form three distinct fire-places, the one
contiguous to the other, and separated from each other
by divisions so thin in front that when fires are burning
in them all it appears like one fire, and has all the effect
of one fire in roasting meat that is put before it. Each
fire-place is, however, perfectly distinct from the others,
and has its own distinct coverings (which are oblique),
— back, throat, etc., — though the same front bars, which
are of hammered iron, and made very strong, run through
them all.

When a very small fire is wanted (merely for boiling
a tea-kettle, for instance), it is kindled in the first or
smallest fire-place ; when a little larger fire is necessary,
it is made in the second fire-place, which is at the oppo-
site end of the range; when a still larger fire is required,
it is made in the third fire-place, which occupies the
middle of the range. If a large fire in the fourth degree
is wanted, two neighbouring fires are kindled in the
first and third fire-places; if in the fifth degree, the
two contiguous fires are lighted in the second and third
fire-places ; and when the greatest fire that can be made
is wanted, all the three fire-places are at the same time
filled with burning fuel.

In cases where a single open chimney fire-place of
a moderate size, that is to say, from 18 to 20 inches in
width, might sometimes be too small, and a very wide
fire, like that just described, would never be wanted,
I would advise the construction of two separate but
adjoining fire-places, the one about 1 2 inches, and the
other about 1 8 or 20 inches in width. These would, I

234 On the Construction of Kitchen

imagine, answer every purpose for which an open fire
in the kitchen could be wanted by a large family, even
though they should (contrary to all my recommenda-
tions) continue to roast their meat upon a spit.

That I am not unreasonable enough to expect that
all my recommendations will immediately be attended
to, is evident from the pains I take to improve machin-
ery now in use, of which I do not approve, and which
is perfectly different from that I am desirous to see
introduced.

When my roasters shall become more generally known,
and the management of them better understood, I have
no doubt but that open chimney fire-places, and open
fires of all descriptions, will be found to be much less
necessary in kitchens than they now are.

I am even sanguine enough to expect that the time
will come when open fires will disappear, even in our
dwelling-rooms and most elegant apartments. Genial
warmth can certainly be kept up, and perfect ventilation
effected much better without them than with them ; and
though I am myself still child enough to be pleased with
the brilliant appearance of burning fuel, yet I cannot
help thinking that something else might be invented
equally attractive to draw my attention and amuse my
sight, that would be less injurious to my eyes, less ex-
pensive, and less connected with dirt, ashes, and other
unwholesome and disagreeable objects.

It is very natural to suppose that those nations who
inhabit countries where the winter is most severe must
have made the greatest progress in contriving means
for making their dwellings warm and comfortable in
cold weather ; and when, in milder climates, the growing
scarcity of fuel has rendered the saving of that article

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 235

an object of rational economy, it appears to me to be
wise to search there for the means of doing it, where
necessity has long since rendered the use and highest
possible improvement of those means indispensable.
And the truly liberal — that is to say, the enlightened,
just, and generous — feel no difficulty in acknowledging
the ingenuity and industry of their neighbours, and
no humiliation in adopting their useful inventions and
improvements.

Before I finish this publication I must say a few
words on the construction of cottage fire-places. It is,
I am sensible, a long time since I promised to publish
an Essay on that subject, and still mean to do so ; but
a variety of weighty considerations has engaged me to
postpone the putting of , that Essay out of my hands.
I conceived the subject to be of very great importance,
and wished to have time to make myself fully acquainted
with the present state of cottages, and of the different
kinds of fuel used in them in different parts of these
kingdoms. I had with pain observed the numerous
mistakes that have been made in altering chimney fire-
places on the principles recommended in my fourth
Essay, and on that account I was very desirous of
deferring the publication of my directions for construct-
ing cottage fire-places, till I could inform the public
where cottage fire-places, constructed on the principles
recommended, might be seen.

I hope and trust that in the arrangement of the
repository of the Royal Institution, now fitting up in
this metropolis, an opportunity will be found for exhib-
iting cottage fire-places on the most perfect plans, as
also of showing many other mechanical contrivances
that may be of general utility.

236 On the Construction of Kitchen

Cottage chimneys, as they are now commonly con-
structed in most parts of Great Britain, have a very-
wide open fire-place, with a high mantel, and large
chimney-corners, in which the children frequently sit
on little stools, when in cold weather they hover round
the fire. These chimney-corners are very comfortable ;
and, except the whole room could be made equally so,
it would certainly be a pity to destroy them. But this,
I am persuaded, may easily be done : in the mean
time, much may be done to make cottages warm and
comfortable, merely by a few simple alterations in their
present fire-places.

As the principal fault of these fire-places is the
enormous width of the throats of their chimneys, which
frequently occasions their smoking, and always gives
too free a passage for the warm air of the room to
escape up the chimney, a smaller fire-place may be
constructed in the midst of the larger one ; and the
little chimney of this small fire-place being carried up
perpendicularly in the middle of the large fire-place,
the large chimney-corners, without being destroyed,
may be arched over and closed in above, so as to leave
no passage in those parts for the escape of the warm
air of the room into the chimney, and from thence into
the atmosphere.

The back of the old chimney may serve for a back to
the new fire-place, and the jambs of the new chimney
need not project forward beyond the back more than
12 or 15 inches ; so that the new chimney, and every
part of it, may be completely included within the
opening of the old fire-place. This is to be done in
order to preserve the old chimney-corners ; but in cases
where the opening of the old fire-place is not sufficiently

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 237

wide, high, and deep to permit of the leaving of chim-
ney-corners sufficiently spacious to be useful, it will
be best to sacrifice these corners, and to proceed in a
different manner in constructing the new fire-place.

In this last case the back of the new fire-place should
be brought forward, and the new work should be
executed agreeably to the directions contained in my
fourth Essay for the construction of open chimney fire-
places. If void spaces should remain on the right and
left of the new jambs, they will be found useful for
various purposes.

It is of so much importance to facilitate the means
of cooking to the poor, and to enable them to prepare
food in different ways, that I think it extremely de-
sirable that each cottager should have an iron pot or
digester, so contrived as to be used occasionally over
his open fire, or, what will be much more economical,
in a small closed fire-place, which may be made with a
few bricks on one side of his open fire-place.

But what would be of more use, if possible, to a poor
family, even than a good boiler, would be a small oven
of sheet iron, well put up in brick-work. Such an oven
would not cost more than a few shillings, and if prop-
erly set would last for many years without needing
any repairs. It would answer not only for baking
household bread and cakes, but might likewise be used
with great advantage in cooking rice puddings, potato
pies, and many other kinds of nourishing food of the
most exquisite taste, that might be prepared at a very
trifling expense.

It is in vain to expect that the poor should adopt
better methods of choosing and preparing their food, till
they are furnished with better implements and utensils
for cooking.

238 On the Construction of Kitchen

I put up an oven like that I now recommend last
winter in my lodgings at Brompton, and have made a
great number of experiments with it, from the results
of which I am fully persuaded of its utility. I pulled
it down on removing into the house I now occupy, but
mean to put it up again as soon as my kitchen shall be
ready to receive it. As I put up this oven merely as
an experiment, in order to ascertain by actual trials
how far it might be useful to poor families, the oven
was made small, and it was set in the cheapest manner,
merely with common bricks and mortar, without any
iron or other costly material. The grate of the closed
fire-place (which was 5 inches wide and about 8 inches
long) was constructed of three common bricks placed
edgewise, and a sliding brick was used for closing the
door of the fire-place, and another for a register to the
ash-pit door-way. The oven, which is of thin sheet
iron, is i8| inches long, 12 inches wide, and 12 inches
high, and it weighs just io| Ibs. exclusive of its front
frame and front door, which together weigh 6| Ibs.

For a small family the oven might be made of a smaller
size, — 1 1 inches wide, for instance, 10 inches high, and
1 5 inches long ; and it is not indispensably necessary that
it should have either a front frame or a front door of
iron. It might be set in the brick-work without a frame
perfectly well ; and a flat twelve-inch tile, or a flat piece
of stone, or even a piece of wood, placed against its
mouth, might be made to answer instead of an iron door.

The only danger of injury to these ovens from accident
to which they are liable is that arising from carelessness
in making too large a fire under them. They require
but a very small fire indeed, and a large one is not only
quite unnecessary, but detrimental on several accounts.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 239

For greater security against accidents from too strong
fires, I would advise the fire-place to be made extremely
— I had almost said ridiculously — small, not more than
from 4 to 5 inches wide, from 6 to 8 inches long, and
about 5 inches deep ; and I would place the bottom or
grating of the fire-place 1 1 or 1 2 inches below the bottom
of the oven. For still greater security, the bottom of the
oven, immediately over the fire, might, if it should be
found necessary, be defended by a thin plate of cast,
hammered, or sheet iron, full of small holes (as large as
peas), placed about half an inch from the bottom of the
oven, and directly below it ; but, if any common degree
of attention be used in the management of the fire, this
precaution will not, I am persuaded, be necessary.

In setting these ovens, care must be taken that room
be left for the flame and smoke to come into contact
with the oven, and surround it on every side ; and it can
hardly be necessary to add that a canal must be made
by which the smoke can afterwards pass off into the
chimney.

I once imagined that small ovens for poor cottagers
might be made very cheap indeed, by making only the
bottom of the oven of iron, and building up the rest with
bricks ; but, on making the experiment, it was not found
to answer. I caused several ovens on this principle to
be constructed in my kitchen, and made many attempts
to correct their faults ; but I found it impossible to heat
them equally and sufficiently. I then altered my plan,
by making both the bottom and the top of sheet iron.
But this even did not answer. It might answer for a
perpetual oven, like that which I caused to be made in
the House of Industry at Dublin ;. but, if an oven of this
kind is ever suffered to become cold, it will require a

240 On the Construction of Kitchen

long time to heat it again, which is a circumstance that
renders it very unfit for the use of a poor family. The
ovens I have recommended, constructed entirely of thin
sheet iron, have the advantage of being heated almost
in an instant ; and the heat which penetrates the walls
of their closed fire-places, being gradually given off after
all the fuel is burned out, keeps them hot for a long time.
Care should, however, always be taken to keep these
ovens well closed when they are used, and to leave only
a very small hole, when necessary, for the escape of the
generated steam or vapour.

For larger families the oven may be made larger in
proportion ; or, what will be still more convenient, a
nest of two, three, or four small ovens, placed near to
each other, may be 'so set in brick-work as to be heated
by one and the same fire.

A nest of four small ovens, set in this manner, was
fitted up in the kitchen of the Military Academy at
Munich, and found very useful : they were rectangular,
each being 10 inches wide, 10 inches high, and 16 inches
long; and they were placed two abreast in two rows,
one immediately above the other, the sides and bottoms
of neighbouring ovens being at the distance of about
1 1 inch, that the flame and smoke which surrounded
them on every side might have room to pass between
them. The fire-place was situated immediately below
the interval that separated the two lowermost ovens, at
the distance of about 10 inches below the level of their
bottoms ; and by means of dampers the flame could be
so turned and directed as to increase or diminish the
heat in any one or more of the ovens at pleasure.

These four ovens were furnished with iron doors,
movable on hinges, which, in order that they might not

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 241

be in the way of each other, opened two to the right,
and two to the left.

In a large kitchen, where a variety of different kinds
of food is baked at the same time or on the same day,
it is easy to perceive that a nest of small ovens must be
very useful, much more so than one large oven equal in
capacity to them all ; for, besides the inconvenience in
cooking a variety of different things in the same oven
that arises from the promiscuous mixture of various
exhalations and smells, the process going on in one dish
must often be disturbed by opening the oven to put in
or take out another, and the heat can never be so reg-
ulated as to suit them all.

But the cook of the Military Academy at Munich
finds the nest of ovens useful not merely for baking :
he uses them also for stewing and for boiling, with great
success. A large quantity of cold liquid cannot, it is
true, be heated and made to boil in a very short time
in one of these ovens; but a saucepan or boiler, whose
contents are already boiling-hot, being placed in one of
them, a gentle boiling may be kept up for a great length
of time, with the consumption of an exceedingly small
quantity of fuel.

With regard to the expense or cost of such a nest of
ovens, it could not, or at least ought not to, be consid-
erable. If they were each 12 inches wide, 12 inches
high, and 16 inches long, they would not weigh more
than 1 5 Ibs. each, their doors included ; and this would
make but 60 Ibs. for the weight of the whole nest,
supposing it to consist of four ovens. I do not know
what price might be demanded by the artificers in this
country, or by the trade, for work of this kind, but I
should think they might well afford to sell these ovens,

VOL. III. l6

242 On the Construction of Kitchen

properly made and ready for setting, at less than 6d.
the pound, avoirdupois weight. The sheet iron would
cost them in the market, at the first hand, not more than
about $\d. per pound. The expense of setting the ovens
would not be considerable, especially as only one small
fire-place would be necessary.

In some future publication, or in a subsequent part
of this Essay, I shall give a design of one of these
nests of ovens, with an exact estimate of the expense of
it: in the mean time I will endeavour to get one of
them put up for the public inspection at the Royal
Institution.

I cannot close this chapter without once more calling
the attention of my reader to the necessity of furnish-
ing the canal tha't carries away the smoke into the
chimney with a damper. If this is not done in setting
the ovens I have just been describing, it will be quite
impossible to manage the heat properly. For the fire-
place of a small oven for the family of a cottager, a
common brick may be made to answer very well as a
damper ; and, indeed, a very good damper for any small
fire-place may be made with a brick or a tile or a
piece of stone.

If, in addition to the introduction of a good damper,
care be taken to cause the smoke to descend about
12 or 15 inches just after it has quitted the oven (or the
boiler), and before it is permitted to rise up and go off
into the chimney, this will greatly contribute to the
economy of fuel.

It is surely not necessary that I should again observe
how very essential it is in altering open chimney fire-
places — whether they belong to kitchens, to the dwell-
ing-rooms of the opulent, or to cottages — to build up

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 243

their backs and sides, in that part especially which
contains and is occupied by the burning fuel, with fire-
bricks or with stone ; and never in any case to kindle
a fire against a plate of iron.

If all the metal in a register stove, except the front,
and the front and bottom bars, were removed, and the
back and sides built up properly with fire-bricks, or
partly with fire-bricks and partly with fire-stone, it
would make a most excellent fire-place.

This last observation is, I acknowledge, in some
degree foreign to my present subject ; but, as it is well
meant, I hope it will be well received.

In a supplementary Essay now preparing for the
press, in which will be published such additional
remarks and observations to all my former Essays as
may be necessary to their complete explanation and
elucidation, I shall take occasion to enter fully into the
subject of chimney fire-places, and shall endeavour to
show, at some length, why it is improper and ill-judged
to construct the sides and backs of their grates of iron,
or of any other metallic substance.

In a second part which will be added to this (tenth)
Essay, particular directions will be given for construct-
ing boilers, steam dishes, ovens, roasters, and various
other implements and utensils used in cookery ; and a
detailed plan will be laid before the public for improv-
ing the kitchen utensils of cottagers and other poor
families.

I have been induced to reserve these various matters
for a separate publication, in order to accommodate my
writings as much as is possible to the convenience of
the various classes of readers into whose hands they are
likely to come. The plates, which were indispensably

244 On the Construction of Fire-places, etc.

necessary to elucidate the descriptions contained in the
preceding chapters (which have been admirably exe-
cuted by that excellent artist Lowry), could not fail to
enhance very considerably the price of this publication,
and on that account I was desirous to detach and pub-
lish separately all such popular parts of the subjects I
have undertaken to treat in this Essay as appeared
to me to bid fair to be most read, and to be of most
general utility.

Whether the reader agrees with me or not in respect
to the validity of the reasons which have determined
my judgment on this occasion, I hope and trust that
he will do me the justice to believe that I have no wish
so much at my heart as to render my labours of some
real and lasting utility to mankind. How happy shall
I be when I come to die, if I can then think that I have
lived to some useful purpose !

APPENDIX TO PART I.

An Account of the Expense of fitting up a small Oven.

SINCE the foregoing sheets were printed off, I have
caused a small oven of sheet iron to be made and
set in brick-work, for the express purpose of ascertain-
ing the cost of it. This oven, which is such as would
be proper for the use of a small poor family, is 1 1 inches
wide, ii inches high, and 15! inches long; and it
weighs 6 Ibs. 2 oz. At its mouth or opening, the sheet
iron is turned back in such a manner as to form a rim,
half an inch wide, projecting outwards; which rim
serves to strengthen the oven, and is likewise useful in
fixing it in the brick-work.

The whole oven is constructed of two pieces of sheet
iron, of unequal dimensions, the largest piece (which is
about 1 6^ inches wide by 45 inches long) forming the
top, bottom, and two sides ; and the smallest (which is
about 1 2 inches square) forming the end. These sheets
of iron are united by seams without rivets. One seam
only runs through the oven in the direction of its
length, and that is situated in the middle of the upper
part of it.

A good workman was employed just two hours in
making this oven ; but there is no doubt but the work
might be done in a shorter time by a man accustomed
to that kind of manufacture, especially if the proper

246 On the Construction of Kitchen

means were used for facilitating and expediting the
labour.

The sheet iron used in the construction of this oven,
which was of the very best quality, cost 345-. per
gross hundred of 1 1 2 Ibs., which is at the rate of $\d.
and i\ of a farthing per Ib. The quantity used,
6 Ibs. 2 oz., must therefore have cost is. iQ^d. and
1^2 part of a farthing.

If now we allow two ounces for wastage, this will
bring the quantity necessary for constructing one of
these ovens to 6\ Ibs., which quantity, at the rate above
mentioned, would cost something less than is. nd.\
and if to this sum we add is. for the making, this will
bring the prime cost of the oven to 2s. nd.

Let us allow 20- per cent for the profit of the manu-
facturer, and still the price of the oven to buyers will
be only 3^. 6d*

In order to ascertain the expense of setting one of
these ovens in brick-work, I caused that above described
to be put up in the middle of a wide chimney fire-place
in my house in Brompton Row; and the work was
executed with as much care and attention as was
necessary, in order to render it strong and durable.
In doing this 114 bricks were used, and something
less than 3 hods of mortar; and the bricklayer per-
formed the job in 3 hours and 10 minutes.

Three bricks set edgewise formed the grate or bot-
tom of the fire-place ; the middle brick being placed
vertically, and those on each side of it inclining a little

* The oven I have here described was made by Mr. Summers, ironmonger,
of New Bond Street, who, before I acquainted him with the above computa-
tions, offered to furnish these ovens in any quantities at 4?. a piece. This, for
the offer of a manufacturer, I thought not unreasonable.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 247

inwards above, to give a more free passage to the falling
ashes.

The entrance into the fire-place was closed with a
sliding brick, and another brick served as a register to
the ash-pit door-way; a third served as a damper to the
canal that carried off the smoke into the chimney ; and
the oven itself was closed with a twelve-inch tile.

The expense of setting this oven was estimated as
follows : —

s. d.

1 14 bricks, at 3^. per hundred 34

3 hods of mortar, at ^d. I o

I twelve-inch tile, at $d. 04

Bricklayer's labour I 6

Total 62

If to this sum we add the amount of the ironmonger's
bill for the oven 36

The whole expense will turn out 98

The mass of brick-work in which this oven is set is
just 2 feet wide, 19! inches deep, measured from front
to back, and 3 feet 3! inches high. The chimney fire-
place in which it is placed is 3 feet wide, 3 feet 3! inches
high, and 20 inches deep.

If the oven had been set in one corner of this fire-
place, instead of occupying the middle of it, near one-
quarter of the bricks that were used might have been
saved ; but if in building a new chimney a convenient
place were chosen and prepared for it, an oven of this
kind might be put up at a very small expense indeed,
perhaps for 3.5-. or $s. 6d., which would reduce the cost
of the oven when set to about js. or js. 6d.

Though the bricklayer was above 3 hours putting up
this oven, yet, as it was the first he ever set, there is no
doubt but that he was considerably longer in doing the

248 On the Construction of Kitchen

work on that account. He thinks he could put up
another in two hours, and I am of the same opinion.

I think it would be advisable, in order to facilitate
stowage and carriage of these small ovens, always to
manufacture them in nests of four, one within the other,
even w.hen they are designed to be sold, and to be put
up singly ; for it can be of no great importance whether
they be a quarter of an inch or half an inch wider or
narrower ; and it will often be a great convenience to
be able to pack them one within the other, especially
when they are to be sent to any considerable distance.

If care be taken in making them to preserve their
forms and dimensions, and if the seams of the metal be
properly beaten down, the difference in the sizes of two
ovens that will fit one within the other need not be very
considerable. But I forget that I am writing for the
cleverest and most experienced workmen upon the face
of the earth, to whom the utility of these contrivances
is perfectly familiar, and who, without waiting for my
suggestions, will not fail to put them all in practice.

Though there is nothing I am more anxious to avoid
than tiring my reader with useless repetitions, yet I can-
not help mentioning once more the great importance
of causing the smoke that heats one of the ovens I have
been describing to descend at least as low as the level
of the bottom of the oven, after it has passed round and
over it, before it is permitted to rise up freely and escape
by the chimney into the atmosphere. In setting the
oven, and forming the canal for carrying off the smoke
from the oven into the chimney, this may easily be
effected : and, if it be done, the oven will retain its heat
for a great length of time even after the fire is gone
out ; but, if it be not done, the fire must constantly be

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 249

kept up, or the oven will soon be cooled by the cold air
that will not fail to force its way through the fire-place
and up the chimney.

From the result of this experiment it appears that an
oven of the kind recommended is very far from being
an expensive article; and there is no doubt but that,
with a little care in the management of the fire, an oven
of this sort would last many years without wanting any
repairs. It is hardly necessary for me to add that a nest
of these small ovens, consisting of three or four, put
up together, and heated by a single fire, would be very
useful in the kitchen of a private gentleman, and indeed
of every large family.

If nests of small ovens should come into use (which
I cannot help thinking will be the case), it would be
best, as well for convenience in carriage as for other
reasons, to make those which belong to the same nest
not precisely of the same dimensions, but varying in
size just so much as shall be necessary in order that
they may be packed one within the other.

PART II.

PREFACE.

I TOO often find myself in situations in which I feel
it to be necessary to make apologies for delays and
irregularities in the publication of my writings. This
second part of my tenth Essay was announced in the
beginning of the year 1800; and it ought certainly
to have made its appearance long ago, but a variety
of circumstances has conspired to retard its publi-
cation.

During several months, almost the whole of my time
was taken up with the business of the Royal Institution ;
and those who are acquainted with the nature and objects
of that noble establishment will, no doubt, think that I
judged wisely in preferring its interests to every other
concern. For my own part, I certainly consider it as
being by far the most useful, and consequently the most
important, undertaking in which I was ever engaged,
and of course I feel deeply interested in its success.
The distinguished patronage and liberal support it has
already received afford good ground to hope that it
will continue to prosper, and be a lasting monument of
the liberality and enterprising spirit of an enlightened
nation.

It is certainly a proud circumstance for this country
that in times like the present, and under the accumu-
lated pressure of a long and expensive war, individuals

On the Construction of Fire-places, etc. 251

generously came forward and subscribed in a very short
time no less a sum than thirty thousand pounds sterling,
for the noble purpose of " diffusing the knowledge and
facilitating the general introduction of new and useful
inventions and improvements."

In the repository of this new establishment will be
found specimens of all the mechanical improvements
which I have ventured to recommend to the public in
my Essays.

CHAPTER IV.

An Account of a new Contrivance for roasting Meat.

— Circumstance which gave rise to this Invention. —
Means used for introducing it into common Use.

— List of Tradesmen who manufacture Roasters. —
Number of them that have already been sold. — De-
scription of the Roaster. — Explanation of its Action.
— Reasons why Meat roasted in this Machine is better
tasted and more wholesome than when roasted on a
Spit. — // is not only better tasted, but also more in
Quantity when cooked. — Directions for setting Roast-
ers in Brick-work. — Directions for the Management
of a Roaster. — Miscellaneous Observations respecting
Roasters and Ovens.

THERE is no process of cookery more troublesome
to the cook, or attended with a greater waste of
fuel, than roasting meat before an open fire.

Having had occasion, several years ago, to fit up a
large kitchen (that belonging to the Military Academy
at Munich) in which it was necessary to make arrange-
ments for roasting meat every day for near 200 persons,
I was led to consider this subject with some attention ;
and I availed myself of the opportunity which then
offered to make a number of interesting experiments,
from the results of which I was enabled to construct
a machine for roasting, which upon trial was found
to answer so well that I thought it deserving of being
made known to the public. Accordingly, during the

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 253

visit I made to this country in the years 1795 and
1 796, I caused two of these roasters to be constructed
in London, — one at the house then occupied by the
Board of Agriculture, and the other at the Foundling
Hospital ; and a third was put up, under my direction,
in Dublin, at the house of the Dublin Society.

All these were found to answer very well, and they
were often imitated; but I had the mortification to
find, on my return to England in the year 1 798, that
some mistakes had been made in the construction, and
many in the management of them. Their fire-places
had almost universally been made three or four times
as large as they ought to have been, as neither the
cooks, nor the bricklayers who were employed in setting
them, could be persuaded that it was possible that any
thing could be sufficiently roasted with a fire which to
them appeared to be ridiculously small; and the large
quantities of fuel which were introduced into these
capacious fire-places not only destroyed the machinery
very soon, but, what was still more fatal to the repu-
tation of the contrivance, rendered it impossible for the
meat to be well roasted.

When meat, surrounded by air, is exposed to the
action of very intense heat, its surface is soon scorched
and dried ; which preventing the heat from penetrating
freely to the centre of the piece, the meat cannot possibly
be equally roasted throughout.

These mistakes could not fail to discredit the inven-
tion, and retard its introduction into general use ; but,
being convinced by long experience of the utility of
the contrivance, as well as by the unanimous opinion
in its favour of all those who had given it a fair trial, I
was resolved to persist in my endeavours to make it

254 On the Construction of Kitchen

known, and, if possible, to bring it into use in this
country. The roaster in the kitchen of the Military
Academy at Munich had been in daily use more than
eight years ; and many others in imitation of it, which
had been put up in private families in Bavaria and
other parts of Germany, and in Switzerland, had been
found to answer perfectly well ; and as that in the
kitchen of the Foundling Hospital in London had
likewise, during the experience of two years, been found
to perform to the entire satisfaction of those who have
the direction of that noble institution, I was justified in
concluding that, wherever the experiment had failed, it
must have been owing to mismanagement. And I was
the more anxious to get this contrivance brought into
general use, as I was perfectly convinced that meat
roasted by this new process is not merely as good, but
decidedly better; that is to say, more delicate, more
juicy, more savoury, and higher flavoured, than when
roasted in the common way, — on a spit, before an
open fire.

A real improvement in the art of cookery, which
unites the advantage of economy with wholesomeness,
and an increase of enjoyment in eating, appeared to me
to be very interesting; and I. attended to the subject
with all that zeal and perseverance which a conviction
of its importance naturally inspired.

On my return to this country, in the autumn of the
year 1798, one of the first things I undertook in the
prosecution of my favourite pursuit was to engage an
ingenious tradesman, who lives in a part of the town
which is much frequented (Mr. Summers, ironmonger,
of New Bond Street), to put up a roaster in his own
kitchen ; to instruct his cook in the management of it ;

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 255

to make daily use of it ; to show it in actual use to his
customers, and others who might desire to see it ; and
also to allow other cooks to be present, and assist when
meat was roasted in it, in order to their being convinced
of its utility, and taught how to manage it. I likewise
prevailed on him to engage an intelligent bricklayer
in his service who would submit to be taught to set
roasters properly, and who would follow without de-
viation the directions he should receive. All these
arrangements were carried into execution in the begin-
ning of the year 1799; and since that time Mr. Sum-
mers has sold and put up no less than 260 roasters, all
of which have been found to answer perfectly well ; and,
although he employs a great many hands in the man-
ufacture of this new article, he is not able to satisfy all
the demands of his numerous customers.

Many of these roasters have been put up in the
houses of persons of the highest rank and distinction ;
others in the kitchens of artificers and tradesmen ; and
others again in schools, taverns, and other houses of
public resort ; and in all these different situations the
use of them has been found to be economical, and
advantageous in all respects.

Several other tradesmen in London have also been
engaged in the manufacture of roasters. Mr. Hopkins,
of Greek Street, Soho, ironmonger to the king, made
that which is at the Foundling Hospital, likewise that
which was put up in the house formerly occupied by
the Board of Agriculture ; and he informs me that he
has sold above 200 others, which have been put up in
the kitchens of various hospitals and private families
in the capital and in different parts of the country.

Messrs. Moffat & Co., of Great Queen Street, Lin-

256 On the Construction of Kitchen

coln's-Inn Fields, and Mr. Feetham, of Oxford Street,
as also Mr. Gregory, Mr. Spotswood, Mr. Hanan, and
Mr. Briadwood, in Edinburgh, have engaged in the
manufacture of them. Other tradesmen, no doubt, with
whose names I am not acquainted, have manufactured
them; and as there is no difficulty whatever in their
construction, and as all persons are at full liberty to
manufacture and sell them, I hope soon to see these
roasters become a common article of trade.

I have done all that was in my power to improve
and to bring them forward into notice ; and all my
wishes respecting them will be accomplished if they
should be found to be useful, and if the public is
furnished with them at reasonable prices.

Several roasters', constructed by different workmen,
may be seen, some of them set in brick-work, and others
not, at the repository of the Royal Institution.

I have delayed thus long to publish a description
of this contrivance, in order that its usefulness might
previously be established by experience ; and also that
I might be able, with 'the description, to give notice to
the public where the thing described might be seen. I
was likewise desirous of being able at the same time
to point out several places where the article might be
had.

These objects having been fully accomplished, I shall
now proceed by giving

An Account of the Roaster, and of the Principles on
which it is constructed.

When I first set about to contrive this machine, med-
itating on the nature of the mechanical and chemical

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 257

operations that take place in the culinary process in
question, it appeare4 to me that there could not possibly
be any thing more necessary to the roasting of meat
than heat in certain degrees of intensity, accompanied
by certain degrees of dryness ; and I thought if matters
could be so arranged, by means of simple mechanical
contrivances, that the cook should be enabled not only
to regulate the degrees of heat at pleasure, but also to
combine any given degree of heat with any degree of
moisture or of dryness required, this would unques-
tionably put it in his power to perform every process
of roasting in the highest possible perfection.

The means I used for attaining these ends will
appear by the following description of the machinery
I caused to be constructed for that purpose.

The most essential part of this machinery, which I
shall call the body of the roaster (see Fig. 14), is a

Fig. 14.

hollow cylinder of sheet iron (which, for a roaster of a
moderate size, maybe made about 18 inches in diameter
and 24 inches long), closed at one end, and set in a
horizontal position in a mass of brick-work, in such a
manner that the flame of a small fire, which is made in

258 On the Construction of Kitchen

a closed fire-place directly under it, may play all round
it, and heat it equally and expeditiously. The open end
of this cylinder, which should be even with the front of
the brick-work in which it is set, is closed either with a
double door of sheet iron, or with a single door of sheet
iron covered on the outside with a panel of wood ; and
in the cylinder there is a horizontal shelf, made of a
flat plate of sheet iron, which is supported on ledges
riveted to the inside of the cylinder, on each side of
it. This shelf is situated about three inches below the
centre or level of the axis of the body of the roaster,
and it serves as a support for a dripping-pan, in
which, or rather over which, the meat to be roasted
is placed.

This dripping-pan, which is made of sheet iron, is
about 2 inches deep, 1 6 inches wide above, 1 5! inches
in width below, and 22 inches long; and it is placed
on four short feet, or, what is better, on two long
sliders, bent upwards at their two extremities, and
fastened to the ends of the dripping-pan, forming, to-
gether with the dripping-pan, a kind of sledge; the
bottom of the dripping-pan being raised by these means
about an inch above the horizontal shelf on which it is
supported.

In order that the dripping-pan on being pushed into
or drawn out of the roaster may be made to preserve its
direction, two straight grooves are made in the shelf on
which it is supported, which, receiving the sliders of the
dripping-pan, prevent it from slipping about from side
to side, and striking against the sides of the roaster.
The front ends of these grooves are seen in Fig. 14,
as are also the front ends of the sliders of the dripping-
pan, and one of its handles.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 259

In the dripping-pan, a gridiron (seen in Fig. 14)
is placed, the horizontal bars of which are on a level
with the sides or brim of the dripping-pan, and on this
gridiron the meat to be roasted is laid; care being
taken that there be always a sufficient quantity of
water in the dripping-pan to cover the whole of its
bottom to the height of at least half or three quarters
of an inch.

This water is essential to the success of the process
of roasting: it is designed for receiving the drippings
from the meat, and preventing their falling on the heated
bottom of the dripping-pan, where they would be evap-
orated, and their oily parts burned or volatilized, filling
the roaster with ill-scented vapours, which would spoil
the meat by giving it a disagreeable taste and smell.

It was with a view more effectually to defend the
bottom of the dripping-pan from the fire, and prevent
as much as possible the evaporation of the water it
contains, that the dripping-pan was raised on feet or
sliders, instead of being merely set down on its bottom
on the shelf which supports it in the roaster.

A late improvement has been made in the arrange-
ment of the dripping-pan, by an ingenious workman at
Norwich, Mr. Frost, who has been employed in putting
up roasters in that part of the country; an invention
which I think will, in many cases, if not in all, be found
very useful. Having put a certain quantity of water
into the principal dripping-pan, which is constructed of
sheet iron, he places a second, shallower, made of tin,
and standing on four short feet, into the first, and then
places the gridiron which is to support the meat in this
second dripping-pan. As the water in the first keeps
the second cool, there is no necessity for putting water

260 On the Construction of Kitchen

into this ; and the drippings of the meat may, without
danger, be suffered to fall into it, and to remain there
unmixed with water. When Yorkshire puddings or
potatoes are cooked under roasting meat, this arrange-
ment will 'be found very convenient.

In constructing the dripping-pans, and fitting them
to each other, care must be taken that the second do
not touch the first, except by the ends of its feet ; and
especially that the bottom of the second (which may
be made dishing) do not touch the bottom of the first
The lengths and widths of the two dripping-pans above,
or at their brims, may be equal, and the brim of the
second may stand about half an inch above the level of
the brim of the first. The horizontal level of the upper
surface of the gridiron should not be lower than the
level of the brim of the second dripping-pan ; and
the meat should be so placed on the gridiron that the
drippings from it cannot fail to fall into the dripping-
pan, and never upon the hot bottom or sides of the
roaster.

To carry off the steam which arises from the water
in the dripping-pan, and that which escapes from the
meat in roasting, there is a steam-tube belonging to the
roaster, which is situated at the upper part of the roaster,
commonly a little on one side and near the front of it,
to which tube there is a damper, which is so contrived
as to be easily regulated without opening the door of
the roaster. This steam-tube is distinctly seen in
Fig. 14; and the end of the handle by which its
damper is moved may be seen in Fig. 15 (p. 261).

The heat of the roaster is regulated at pleasure, and
to the greatest nicety, by means of the register in the
ash-pit door of its fire-place (represented in Fig. 1 5) and

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils.

261

by the damper in the canal, by which the smoke goes
off into the chimney, which damper is not represented
in any of the figures.

The dryness in the roaster is regulated by the damper
of the steam-tube, and also by means of a very essential
part of the apparatus — the blowpipes — which still re-
main to be described. They are distinctly represented
in the Figs. 14, 15, and 16.

Fig. 15.

These blowpipes, which lie immediately under the
roaster, are two tubes of iron, about 2| inches in diam-
eter and 23 inches long, or about i inch shorter than
the roaster; which tubes, by means of elbows at their
farther ends, are firmly fixed to the bottom of the roaster,
and communicate with the inside of it. The hither ends
of these tubes come through the brick-work, and are
seen in front of the roaster, being even with its face.

These blowpipes have stoppers, by which they are
accurately closed ; but when the meat is to be browned
these stoppers are removed, or drawn out a little, and
the damper in the steam-tube of the roaster being at the

262

On the Construction of Kitchen

same time opened a strong current of hot air presses
in through the tubes into the roaster, and through the
roaster into and through the steam-tube, carrying and
driving away all the moist air and vapour out of the
roaster.

Fhr. 16.

As these blowpipes are situated immediately below
the roaster and just over the fire, and are surrounded on
every side by the flame of the burning fuel (see Fig. 16),
they are much exposed to the heat ; and when the fire
is made to burn briskly, which should always be done
when the meat is to be browned, they will be heated
red-hot, consequently the air which passes through them
into the roaster will be much heated ; and this hot wind
which blows over the meat will suddenly heat and dry
its surface in every part, and give it that appearance
and taste which are peculiar to meat that is well
roasted.

When these roasters were first proposed, and before
their merit was established, many doubts were enter-
tained respecting the taste of the food prepared in them.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 263

As the meat was shut up in a confined space, which has
much the appearance of an oven, it was natural enough
to suspect that it would be rather baked than roasted;
but all those who have tried the experiment have found
that this is by no means the case. The meat is roasted,
and not baked ; and, however bold the assertion may
appear, I will venture to affirm that meat of every kind,
without any exception, roasted in a roaster, is better tasted,
higher flavoured, and much more juicy and delicate than
when roasted on a spit before an open fire.

I should not have dared to have published this opin-
ion four years ago ; but I can with safety do it now, for
I can appeal for a confirmation of the fact to the results
of a number of decisive experiments lately made in this
metropolis, and by the most competent judges.

Among many others who, during the last year, have
caused roasters to be put up in their kitchens, I could
mention one person in particular, a nobleman, distin-
guished as much by his ingenuity and indefatigable zeal
in promoting useful improvements as by his urbanity
and his knowledge in the art of refined cookery, who
had two roasters put in his house in town, and who
informs me that he has frequently invited company to
dine with him since his roasters have been in use, and
that the dishes prepared in them have never failed to
meet with marked approbation.

In enumerating the excellences of this new implement
of cookery, there is one of indisputable importance, which
ought not to be omitted. When meat is roasted in this
machine, its quantity, determined by weight, is consider-
ably greater than if it were roasted upon a spit before a
fire. To ascertain this fact, two legs of mutton taken
from the same carcass, and made perfectly equal in

264 On the Construction of Kitchen

weight before they were cooked, were roasted on the
same day, the one in a roaster, the other on a spit before
the fire; and, to prevent all deception, the persons
employed in roasting them were not informed of the
principal design of the experiment. When these pieces
of roasted meat came from the fire they were carefully
weighed ; when it appeared that the piece which had
been roasted in the roaster was heavier than the other
by a difference which was equal to six per cent, or six
pounds in a hundred. But this even is not all ; nor is
it indeed the most important result of the experiment.
These two legs of mutton were brought upon table at
the same time, and a large and perfectly unprejudiced
company was assembled to eat them. They were both
declared to be very good; but a decided preference was
unanimously given to that which had been roasted in
the roaster, it was much more juicy, and was thought
better tasted. They were both fairly eaten up, nothing
remaining of either of them that was eatable. Their
fragments, which had been carefully preserved, being
now .collected and placed in their separate dishes, it
was a comparison of these fragments which afforded
the most striking proof of the relative merit of these
two methods of roasting meat, in respect to the economy
of food. Of the leg of mutton which had been roasted
in the roaster, hardly any thing visible remained except
the bare bone ; while a considerable heap was formed
of scraps not eatable which remained of that roasted on
a spit.

I believe I may venture to say that the result of this
experiment is deserving of the most serious attention,
especially in this country, where so much roasted meat
is eaten, and where the economy of food is every day

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 265

growing to be more and more an object of public
concern.

I could mention several other experiments similar to
that just described, which have been made, and with
similar results ; but it would be superfluous to bring
many examples to ascertain a fact which is so well
established by one.

There is one peculiarity more respecting meat roasted
in a roaster, which I must mention ; that is, the uncom-
mon delicacy of the taste of the fat of the meat so roasted,
especially when it has been done by a very slow fire.
When good mutton is roasted in this manner, its fat is
exquisitely sweet and well tasted, and when eaten with
currant jelly can hardly be distinguished from the fat of
the very best venison. The fat parts of other kinds of
meat are also uncommonly delicate when prepared in
this manner ; and there is reason to think that they are
much less unwholesome than when they are roasted
before an open fire.

The heat which is generated by the rays which pro-
ceed from burning fuel is frequently most intense ; and
hence it is that the surface of a piece of meat that is
roasted on a spit is often quite burned, and rendered not
only hard and ill-tasted, but very unwholesome. The
fat of venison is not thought to be unwholesome ; but, in
roasting venison, care is taken, by covering it, to prevent
the rays from the fire from burning it. In the roasting
machine, the bad effects of these direct rays are always
prevented by the sides of the roaster, which intercepts
them, and protects the surface of the meat from the
excessive violence of their action ; and even when, at
the end of the process of roasting, the intensity of the
heat in the roaster is so far increased as to brown the

266 On the Construction of Kitchen

surface of the meat, yet this heat being communicated
through the medium of a heated fluid (air) is much more
moderate and uniform and certain in its effects, than
direct rays which proceed from burning fuel, or from
bodies heated to a state of incandescence.

Directions for setting Roasters.

There are two points to which attention must be paid
by bricklayers in setting these roasters, otherwise they
will not be found to answer. Their fire-places must be
made extremely small ; and provision must be made for
cleaning out their flues from time to time when they
become obstructed with soot.

When I first introduced these roasters into this coun-
try five years ago, I-was not fully aware of the irresistible
propensity to make too great fires on all occasions, which
those people have who inhabit kitchens ; but sad experi-
ence has since taught me that nothing short of rendering
it absolutely impossible to destroy my roasters by fire
will prevent their being so destroyed. The knowledge
of this fact has put me on my guard, and I now take
effectual measures for preventing this evil. I cause the
fire-places of roasters to be made very small, and direct
them to be situated at a considerable distance below the
bottom of the roaster.

For a roaster which is 18 inches wide, and 24 inches
long, the fire-place should not be more than 7 inches
wide and 9 inches long ; and the side walls of the fire-
place should be quite vertical to the height of 6 or 7
inches. Small as this fire-place may appear to be, it
will contain quite coals enough to heat the roaster, and
many more than will be found necessary for keeping
it hot when heated. The fact is that the quantity of

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 267

fuel required to roast meat in this way is almost
incredibly small. By experiments made with great
care at the Foundling Hospital, it appeared to be only
about one sixteenth part of the quantity which would
be required to roast the same quantity of meat in the
common way before an open fire. But it is not merely
to save fuel that I recommend the fire-places to be
made very small: it is to prevent the roasters from
being wantonly destroyed, the meat spoiled, and a
useful invention discredited.

With regard to the provision which ought to be
made, in the setting of a roaster, for occasionally clean-
ing out its flues, this must be done by leaving proper
openings (about 4 or 5 inches square, for instance) in
the brick-work, to introduce a brush, like a bottle-brush,
with a long handle; which openings may be closed
with stoppers or fit pieces of brick or of stone, and the
joinings made good with a little moist clay. To render
these stoppers more conspicuous, they may each be
furnished with a small iron ring or knob, which will
likewise be useful as a handle in removing them and
replacing them.

In Figs. 15 and 16, a simple contrivance may be
seen represented, by means of which the soot which
is apt to collect about the top of a roaster may
be removed with very little trouble as often as it shall
be found necessary, without injuring the brick-work or
deranging any part of the machinery. By means of an
oblong square frame, constructed of sheet iron, and
fastened to the top of the roaster by rivets, a door-way
is opened into the void space left for the flame and
smoke between the outside of the roaster and the
hollow arch or vault in which it is placed ; and by

268 On the Construction of Kitchen

introducing a brush with a flexible handle through
this door-way, the soot adhering to the outside of the
top of the roaster, and to the surface of the brick-work
surrounding it, may be detached and made to fall back
into the fire-place, from whence it may be removed with
a shovel. The sides of the roaster may be cleaned by
introducing a brush through the door-way of the fire-
place.

The door-way at the top of the roaster may be closed
either by a stopper made of sheet iron, or by a fit piece
of stone or brick, furnished with a ring or knob to
serve as a handle to it.

If cokes be burned under these roasters, instead of
coal (which, as they will not be more expensive fuel,
and as they burn longer, and give a more equal heat,
I would strongly recommend), the flues will seldom if
ever require to be cleaned out. I burn nothing but
coke and a few pieces of wood in the closed fire-places
of my own kitchen ; and for my open chimney fires I
use a mixture of coke and coals, which makes a very-
pleasant fire, and is, I believe, less expensive than coals.
It appears to me that there is no subject which offers
so promising a field for experimental investigation, and
where useful improvements would be so likely to be
made, as in the combination and preparation of fuel.
But to return from this digression.

In constructing the fire-place of a roaster (and all
other closed fire-places) care must be taken to place the
iron bars on which the fuel burns at a considerable
distance from the door of the fire-place ; otherwise, this
door being near the fire, its handle will become very
hot, and it will burn the hand of a person that takes
hold of it. I have more than once seen roasters and

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 269

ovens condemned, disgraced, and totally neglected,
merely from an accident of this kind. And yet how
easy would it have been to have corrected this fault !
If the door of the fire-place is found to become too hot,
send for the bricklayer, and let him put the fire-place
farther backward.

There should always be a passage or throat, of a
certain length, between the mouth or door of a closed
fire-place and the fire-place properly so called, or the
cavity occupied by the burning fuel. Where fire-places
are of large dimensions, it is very useful (as indeed it
is customary) to keep this throat constantly filled and
choked up with coal. This coal, which, as there is no
supply of air in the passage, does not burn, serves to
defend the fire-place door from the heat of the fire. It
serves another useful purpose : it gets well warmed, and
even heated very hot, before it is pushed forward into
the fire-place, which disposes it to take fire instan-
taneously, and without cooling the fire-place and de-
pressing the fire when it is introduced. If any part of
it takes fire while it occupies the throat or passage of
the fire-place, it is that part only which is in immediate
contact with the burning fuel, and what is so burned
is consumed under the most advantageous circum-
stances ; for the thick vapour which rises from this coal,
as it grows very hot, and which under other less
favourable circumstances would not fail to go off in
smoke, takes fire in passing over the burning fuel, and
burns with a clear bright flame. I have had frequent
opportunities of verifying this interesting fact ; and I
mention it now, in order, if possible, to fix the attention
of those who have the management of large fires, to an
object which perhaps is of greater importance than they
are aware of.

270 On the Construction of Kitchen

When good reasons can be assigned for the advan-
tages which result from any common practice, this not
only tends to satisfy the mind, and make people care-
ful, cheerful, and attentive in the prosecution of their
business, but it has also a very salutary influence, by
preventing those perpetual variations and idle attempts
at improvement, undirected by science, which are the
consequence of the inconstancy, curiosity, and restless-
ness of man.

Discoveries are always accidental ; and the great use
of science is by investigating the nature of the effects
produced by any process or contrivance, and of the
causes by which they are brought about, to explain
the operation and determine the precise value of every
new invention. This fixes as it were the latitude and
longitude of each discovery, and enables us to place
it in that part of the map of human knowledge which
it ought to occupy. It likewise enables us to use it in
taking bearings and distances, and in shaping our course
when we go in search of new discoveries. But I am
again straying very far from my humble subject.

In constructing closed fire-places for roasters, boilers,
ovens, etc., for kitchens, I have found it to be a good
general rule to make the distance between the fire-place
door and the hither end of the bars of the grate just
equal to the width of the fire-place, measured just above
the bars. In fire-places of a moderate size, where double
doors are used, it will suffice if the distance from the
hinder side of the inner door to the hither end of the
bars be made equal to the width of a brick, or 4 \ inches ;
but, if the door be not double, it is necessary that the
length of the passage from the door into the place
occupied by the burning fuel should be at least 6 or
7 inches.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 271

In setting the iron frame of the door of a closed
fire-place, care should be taken to mask the metal by
setting the bricks before it in such a manner that no
part of the frame may be seen (if I may use that expres-
sion) by the fire. This precaution should be used in
constructing fire-places of all sizes, otherwise the frame
of the fire-place door will be heated very hot by the
rays from the burning fuel, especially when the fire-
place is large, and its form will soon be destroyed by
the frequent expansion and contraction of the metal.
The consequences of this change of form will be the
loosening of the frame in the brick-work, and the admis-
sion of air into the fire-place over the fire between
the sides of the frame and the brick-work, and likewise
between the frame and its door, which will no longer
fit each other.

The expense of keeping large fire-places in repair is
very considerable, as I have learned from some of the
London brewers. More 'than nine tenths of that expense
might easily be saved by constructing the machinery
more scientifically, and using it with care.

Fig. 15, page 261, is a front view; and Fig. 16, page
262, represents a vertical section of a roaster, set in
brick-work. The hollow spaces represented in Fig. 16
are expressed by strong vertical lines ; namely, the ash-
pit, A ; the fire-place, B ; the space between the out-
side of the roaster and the arch of brick-work which
surrounds it, C; the broad canal at the farther end
of the roaster, by which the smoke descends, D ; and
the place E, where it turns, in order to pass upwards into
the chimney by the perpendicular canal, F. The brick-
work is expressed by fainter lines drawn in the same
direction.

272 On the Construction of Kitchen

The farther end of the roaster must be so fixed in
the brick-work that no part of the smoke can find its
way from the fire-place, B, directly into the canal, D,
otherwise it will not pass up by the sides of the roaster
to the top of it. At the top of the roaster, at its farther
end, an opening must of course be left for the smoke to
pass into the descending canal, D.

As I have already mentioned the necessity of causing
the smoke which is used for heating an iron oven or a
roaster to descend before it is permitted to pass off into
the chimney, I shall insist no farther on that important
point in this place. It may, however, be useful to
observe that, if the place where a roaster is set is not
deep enough to allow of the descending canal, D, and
the canal, F, by which the smoke ascends and passes
into the chimney, to be situated at the farther end of
the roaster, both these canals may, without the smallest
inconvenience, be placed on one side of the roaster ;
indeed, as houses are now built, it will commonly be
most convenient to place them on one side, and not at
the end of the roaster. When this is done, the smoke
must be permitted to pass up behind the farther end of
the roaster, as well as by the sides of it.

By taking away a large flat stone, or a twelve -inch
tile, placed edgeways, a passage from A to E may be
opened occasionally, in order to clean out the canals, D
and F, and remove the soot. These passages may be
cleaned out either from above or from below, by means
of a brush with a long flexible handle.

The steam-tube (which is seen in this figure) must
open into a separate canal (not expressed in the figure),
which must be constructed for the sole purpose of car-
rying off the steam into the chimney or into the open

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 273

air. If this steam-tube were to open into either of the
cavities or canals, C, D, E, or F, in which the smoke
from the fire which heats the roaster circulates, this
smoke might, on some occasions, be driven back into
the roaster, which could not fail to give a bad taste to
the meat. The steam-tube must be laid on a descent,
otherwise the water generated in it, in consequence of
the condensation of the steam, might run back into the
roaster.

Some care will be necessary in forming the vault
which is to cover the roaster above. Its form should
be regular, in order that it may be everywhere at the
same distance from the roaster ; and its concave surface
should be as even and smooth as possible, in order that
there may be the fewer cavities for the lodgement of
soot. The distance between the outside of the roaster
and the concave surface of this vault may be about
2 inches ; and the same distance may be preserved
below, between the brick-work and the sides of the
roaster. In the Fig. 15 the outline of the fire-place
and of the cavity in which the roaster is set is indicated
by a dotted line.

Directions for the Management of a Roaster.

Care must be taken to keep the roaster very clean,
and, above all, to prevent the meat from touching the
sides of it, and the gravy from being spilt on its bot-
tom. If by any means it becomes greasy in any part
that is exposed to the action of the fire, as the metal
becomes hot this grease will be evaporated, as has
already been observed, and will fill the roaster with the
most offensive vapour. When grease spots appear, the
inside of the roaster must be washed, first with soap

274 ®n the Construction of Kitchen

and water to take away the grease, and then with pure
water to take away the soap, and it must then be wiped
with a cloth till it be quite dry.

The fire must be moderate, and time must be al-
lowed for the meat to be roasted by the most gentle
heat. About one third more time should in general
be employed in roasting meat in a roaster, than would
be necessary to roast it in the usual way, on a spit
before a fire.

The blowpipes should be kept constantly closed
from the time the meat goes into the roaster till within
12 or 15 minutes of its being sufficiently done to be
sent to the table ; that is to say, till it is fit to be
browned.

The meat is bvowned in the following manner : the
fire is made to burn bright and clear for a few minutes,
till the blowpipes begin to be red-hot (which may be
seen by withdrawing their stoppers for a moment,
and looking into them), when the damper of the steam-
tube of the roaster being opened, and the stoppers of
the blowpipes drawn out, a certain quantity of air is
permitted to pass through the heated blowpipes into
and through the roaster.

I say a certain quantity of air is allowed to pass
through the blowpipes into the roaster. If the steam-
tube and the blowpipes were set wide open, it is very
possible that too much might be admitted, and that
the inside of the roaster and its contents might be
cooled by it, instead of being raised to a higher tem-
perature. As the velocity with which the cold air of
the atmosphere will rush into and through the blow-
pipes of a roaster will depend on a variety of circum-
stances, and may be very different even in roasters of

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 275

the same size and construction, no general rules can
be given in browning the meat for the regulation of
the stoppers of the blowpipes, and of the damper in
the steam-tube : these must depend on what may be
called the trim of the roaster, which will soon be dis-
covered by the cook.

There is an infallible rule for the regulation of the
damper of the steam-tube, during the time the meat is
roasting by a gentle heat. It must then be kept just
so much opened that the steam which arises from
the meat, and from the evaporation of the water in
the dripping-pan, may not be seen coming out of the
roaster through the crevices of its door; for, if it be
more opened, the cold air of the atmosphere will rush
into the roaster through those crevices, and by partially
cooling it will derange the process that is going on ;
and, if it be less opened, the room will be filled with
steam.

In brightening the fire, preparatory to the browning
of the meat, the register in the ash-pit door, and the
damper in the canal by which the smoke passes off
into the chimney, should both be opened ; and it may
be useful to stir up the fire with a poker, but this would
be a very improper time for throwing a quantity of fresh
coals into the fire-place, for that would cool the fire-
place, and damp the fire for a considerable time. By
far the best method of brightening the fire for this
purpose would be to throw a small fagot into the
fire, or a little bundle of dry wood of any kind, split
into small pieces about six or seven inches in length.
This would afford a clear bright flame, which would
heat the blowpipes quickly, and without injuring them.
Indeed, wood ought always to be used for heating

276 On the Construction of Kitchen

roasters, in preference to coal, where it can be had;
and the quantity of it required is so extremely small,
that the difference in the expense would be very
trifling, even here in London, where the price of
fire-wood is so high. And if the durability of the
machinery be taken into the account, which is but
just, I am confident that, for heating roasters and
ovens constructed of sheet iron, coals would turn out
to be dearer fuel than wood.

I have already insisted so much on the necessity of
keeping a quantity of water under meat that is roast-
ing, in order to prevent the drippings from the meat
from falling on any very hot metal, that I shall not now
enlarge farther on the subject, except by saying once
more that it is a circumstance to which it is indispen-
sably necessary to pay attention.

When meat is roasted by a very moderate heat, it
will seldom or never require being either turned or
basted; but, when the heat in the roaster is more in-
tense, it will be found useful both to turn it and to
baste it three or four times during the process. The
reason of this difference in the manner of proceeding
will be evident to those who consider the matter with
attention.

When roasters are constructed of large dimensions,
several kinds of meat may be roasted in them at the
same time. If care be taken to preserve their drip-
pings separate, which may easily be done by placing
under each a separate dish or dripping-pan, standing
in water contained in a larger dripping-pan, there will
be no mixture of tastes ; and, what no doubt will ap-
pear still more extraordinary, a whole dinner, consist-
ing of various dishes, — roasted, stewed, baked, and

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 277

boiled, — may be prepared at the same time in the
same roaster, without any mixture whatever of tastes.
A respectable friend of mine who first made the ex-
periment, and who has since repeated it several times,
has assured me of this curious fact. It may, perhaps,
in time turn out to be an important discovery. A
simple and economical contrivance, by means of which
all the different processes of cookery could be carried
on at the same time and by one small fire, would, no
doubt, be a valuable acquisition.

It is very certain that roasters will either bake or
roast separately in the highest possible perfection ; and
it is not improbable that, with certain precautions in
the management of them, they may be made to per-
form those two processes at the same time, in such a
manner as to give general satisfaction. When roasters
are designed for roasting and baking at the same time,
they should be made sufficiently large to admit of a
shelf above the meat, on which the things to be baked
should be placed. I am told that above half the roasters
lately put up in London are so constructed, and that
they are frequently made to roast and bake at the same
time. I shall take another opportunity of enlarging on
the utility of this contrivance.

There is a precaution to be taken in opening the
door of a roaster, when meat is roasting in it, which
ought never to be neglected; that is, to open the steam-
tube and both the blowpipes, for about a quarter of a
minute, or while a person can count fifteen or twenty,
before the door of the roaster be thrown open. This
will drive away the steam and vapour out of the roaster,
which otherwise would not fail to come into the room
as often as the door of the roaster is opened.

278 On the Construction of Kitchen

As it will frequently happen that the meat will be
done before it will be time to send it up to table, when
this is the case, it may either be taken out of the roaster
and put into a hot closet, which may very conveniently
be situated immediately over the roaster, or it may
remain in the roaster till it is wanted. If this last-
mentioned method of keeping it warm be adopted, the
following precautions will be necessary for cooling the
roaster, otherwise the process of roasting will still go
on, and the meat, instead of being merely kept warm,
will be over done. The register in the ash-pit door
should be closed ; the fire-place door and the damper
in the chimney should be set wide open ; the fire
should either be taken out of the fire-place or it should
be covered with cold ashes ; and, lastly, the damper
in the steam-tube and both the blowpipes should be
opened. By these means the heat will very soon be
driven away up the chimney, and, as soon as it is so
far moderated as to be no longer dangerous, the blow-
pipes and the damper in the steam-tube may be nearly
closed; and if there should be danger of the cooling
being carried too far, the fire-place door may be shut.
By these means the heat of the roaster and of the
brick-work which surrounds it may be moderated and
regulated at pleasure ; and meat already roasted may be
kept warm, for almost any length of time, without any
danger of its being spoiled.

Miscellaneous Observations respecting Roasters and
Ovens.

I shall, no doubt, be criticised by many for dwelling
so long on a subject which to them will appear low,
vulgar, and trifling; but I must not be deterred by

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 279

fastidious criticisms from doing all I can do to succeed
in what I have undertaken. Were I to treat my subject
superficially, my writings would be of no use to any-
body, and my labour would be lost ; but, by investigating
it thoroughly, I may perhaps engage others to pay that
attention to it which, from its importance to society,
it certainly deserves. If improvements in articles of
elegant luxury, which not one person in ten thousand
is rich enough to purchase, are considered as matters
of public concern, how much more interesting to a
benevolent mind must those improvements be which
contribute to the comfort and convenience of every
class of society, rich and poor.

But the subject now under consideration is very far
from being uninteresting, even if we consider it merely
as it is connected with science, without any immediate
view to its utility ; for in it are involved several of the
most abstruse questions relative to the doctrine of heat.

Many have objected to the roaster, on the supposition
that meat cooked in it must necessarily partake more
of the nature of baked meat than of roasted meat. The
general appearance of the machinery is certainly calcu-
lated to give rise to that idea, and when it is known that
all kinds of baking may be performed in great perfection
in the roaster, that circumstance no doubt tended very
much to confirm the suspicion ; but, when we examine
the matter attentively, I think we shall find that this
objection is not well founded.

When any thing is baked in an oven (on the common
construction), the heat is gradually diminishing during
the whole time the process is going on. In the roaster,
the heat is regulated at pleasure, and can be suddenly
increased towards the end of the process ; by which

280 On the Construction of Kitchen

means the distinguishing and most delicate operation,
the browning of the surface of the meat, can be effected
in a few minutes, which prevents the drying up of the
meat and the loss of its best juices.

In an oven, the exhalations being confined, the meat
seldom fails to acquire a peculiar and very disagreeable
smell and taste, which, no doubt, is occasioned solely by
those confined vapours. The steam-tube of a roaster
being always set open, when in browning the meat the
heat is sufficiently raised to evaporate the oily particles
at its surface, the noxious vapours unavoidably generated
in that process are immediately driven away out of the
roaster by the current of hot and pure air from the blow-
pipes. This leaves the meat perfectly free both from
the taste and the smell peculiar to baked meat.

Some have objected to roasters, on an idea that, as
the water which is placed under the meat is (in part at
least) evaporated during the process, this must make
the meat sodden, or give it the appearance and taste of
meat boiled in steam ; but this objection has no better
foundation than that we have just examined. As steam
is much lighter than air, that generated from the water
in the dripping-pan will immediately rise up to the top
of the roaster, and pass off by the steam-tube, and the
meat will remain surrounded by air, and not by steam.
But were the roaster to be constantly full of steam,
to the perfect exclusion of all air, which however is
impossible, this would have no tendency whatever to
make the meat sodden. It is a curious fact that steam,
so far from being a moist fluid, is perfectly dry, as long
as it retains its elastic form ; and that it is of so drying
a nature that it cannot be contained in wooden vessels
(however well seasoned they may be) without drying

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 281

them and making them shrink till they crack and fall
to pieces.

Steam is never moist. When it is condensed with cold,
it becomes water, which is moisture itself ; but the steam
in a roaster, which surrounds meat that is roasting, cannot
be condensed upon it ; for the surface of the meat, being
heated by the calorific rays from the top and sides of the
roaster, is even hotter than the steam.

If steam were a moist fluid, it would be found very
difficult to bake bread, or any thing else, in a common
oven.

Meat which is boiled or sodden in steam is put cold
into the containing vessel, and the hot steam which is
admitted is instantly condensed on its surface, and the
water resulting from this condensation of steam dilutes
the juices of the meat and washes them away, leaving
the meat tasteless and insipid at its surface ; but when
meat is put cold into a roaster, the water in the dripping-
pan being cold likewise, long before it can acquire heat
sufficient to make it boil, the surface of the meat will
become too hot for steam to be condensed upon it;
and, were it not to be browned at all, it could not possibly
taste sodden.

It appears to me that these elucidations are sufficient
to remove the two objections which are most commonly
made to the roaster by those who are not well acquainted
with its mechanism and manner of acting.

In my account of the blowpipes, I have said that the
current of air which comes into the roaster through
them, when they are opened to brown the meat, " drives
away all the moist air and vapour out of the roaster."
This I well know is not an accurate account of what
really happens; but it may serve, perhaps better than

282 On the Construction of Kitchen

a more scientific explanation, to give the generality of
readers distinct ideas of the nature of the effects that
are produced by them. The noxious vapour generated
from the oily particles that are evaporated by the strong-
heat are most certainly driven away precisely in the
manner described ; and we have just seen how very es-
sential it is that these vapours should not be permitted
to remain in the roaster. And whether the surface of the
meat be in fact dried by the immediate contact of a cur-
rent of hot and dry air, or whether this effect is produced
in consequence of an increase of calorific rays from the
top and sides of the roaster occasioned by the additional
heat communicated to the internal surface of the roaster
by this hot wind, the utility of the blowpipes is equally
evident in both cases.

CHAPTER V.

More particular Descriptions of the several Parts of the
Roaster, designed for the Information of Workmen.

— Of the Body of the Roaster. — Of the Advantages
which result from its peculiar Form. — Of the best
Method of proceeding in covering the iron Doors of
Roasters and Ovens, with Panels of Wood, for con-
fining the Heat. — Method of constructing double

Doors of sheet Iron and of cast Iron. — Of the Blow-
pipes. — Of the Steam-tube. — Of the Dripping-pan.

— Precautions to be used for preventing the too rapid
Evaporation of the Water in the Dripping-pan. —
Of large Roasters that may be used for roasting
and baking at the same Time. — Precautions which

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 283

become necessary when Roasters are made very large.

— Of various Alterations that may be made in the
Forms of Roasters, and of the Advantages and
Disadvantages of each of them. — Account of some
Attempts to simplify the Construction of Roasters.

— Of a Roas ting-oven. — Of the Difference between
a Roasting-oven and a Roaster.

A LTHOUGH it will be easy for persons acquainted
*V with the mechanic arts, and accustomed to exam-
ine drawings and descriptions of machines, to form a
perfect idea of the invention in question from what has
already been said, yet something more will be necessary
for the instruction of artificers who may be employed
in executing the work, and more especially for such
as may from these descriptions undertake to construct
roasters without ever having seen one. By going into
these details, I shall no doubt find opportunities for
introducing occasional remarks on the uses and man-
agement of the various parts of the machinery, which
will tend not a little to illustrate the foregoing descrip-
tions, and enable the reader to form a more precise
and satisfactory opinion respecting the merit of the
contrivance.

Of the Body of the Roaster.

Although I have directed the body of the roaster to
be made cylindrical, it may, without any considerable
inconvenience, be constructed of other forms. The
reasons why I preferred the cylindrical form to all
others were because I was told by workmen that it
was the form of easiest construction ; and because I

284 On the Construction of Kitchen

knew it to be the form best adapted for strength and
durability.

There is another reason, which I did not dare to
communicate to the workmen (iron-plate workers) whom
I was obliged to employ, in order to introduce this con-
trivance into common use in this country : when roast-
ers are- of this form, it will be easy to make them of
cast iron, which will render the article not only cheaper
to the purchaser, but also much more durable, and
better on many accounts.

As there is a certain proportion of sulphur in the
coal commonly used in this country, I was always per-
fectly aware of the consequences of burning it under
roasters constructed of sheet iron. I knew that the
sulphurous vapour from such fuel would be much
more injurious to the roaster, and especially to its blow-
pipes (which are much exposed) than the clear flame of
a wood fire ; but I trusted to the remedy, which I knew
might easily be provided for this defect. I thought
that cast iron, which is much less liable to be injured
by a coal fire than wrought iron, would soon be sub-
stituted in lieu of it, first for the blowpipes, and then
for the body of the roaster. In this expectation I have
not been disappointed, for the blowpipes of roasters
are now commonly made of cast iron by the London
workmen.; and, where sea-coal is used as fuel, they
never should be made of any other material.

The first roasters I caused to be made had all flat
bottoms, and their sides were vertical, and their tops
were arched over in the form of a trunk; but several
inconveniences were found to result from this shape.
Their bottoms were too much exposed to the heat, and
this excessive heat in that part heated the bottom of the

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 285

dripping-pan too much, and caused the water in it to
be soon evaporated ; it likewise caused them to warp,
and sometimes prevented their doors from closing them
with that precision which is necessary.

If the hot air in a roaster be permitted to escape by
the crevices of its door, or, what is still worse and more
likely to happen, if cold air be permitted to enter the
roaster by those openings, it is quite impossible that the
process of roasting can go on well.

As cold air will always tend to press into the body of
the roaster by every passage that is left open, whenever,
the roaster being hot, the damper of its steam-tube is
open, — this shows how necessary it is, in roasting meat,
not to leave that damper open at any time when it ought
to be kept closed.

As iron doors for confining heat are very liable to
be warped by the expansion of the metal, they should
never be made to shut into grooves, but they should be
made to close tight by causing the flat surface of the
inside of the door to lie against -and touch in all parts
the front edge of the door frame, which front edge
must of course be made to be perfectly level, and as
smooth as possible.

When the body of the roaster is made cylindrical, it
will be easier to make the front of it, against which its
door closes, level, than if it were of any other form ;
and when the door is circular, by making it a little
dishing, it will not be liable to be warped, especially
when it is made double.

If the front end of the cylinder of sheet iron which
forms the body of the roaster be turned outwards over
a very stout iron wire (about one third of an inch in
diameter, for instance), this will strengthen the roaster

286 On the Construction of Kitchen

very much, and will render it easier to make the end
of the roaster level to receive the flat surface of its
door : it can most easily be made level by placing the
cylinder in a vertical or upright position, with its open
end downwards, on a flat anvil, and hammering the wire
above mentioned till its front edge, which reposes on
the anvil, is quite level.

In order that the door of the roaster may close well,
its hinges should be made to project outwards two or
three inches beyond the sides of the roaster; and it
should be fastened not by a common latch, but by two
turn-buckles, situated just opposite to the two hinges.
The distance at which the two hinges (and consequently
the two turn-buckles) should be placed from each other
should be equal to half the diameter of the roaster.

The hooks for the hinges, and also the support for
the turn-buckles, should be situated at the projecting
ends of strong iron straps, fastened at one of their ends
to the outside of the roaster, by means of riveting-nails.
The manner in which these turn-buckles are constructed,
and the manner in which they are fastened to the
roaster, may be seen by examining Fig. 1 7, where they
are represented on a large scale.

The first roasters that were made were furnished with
two separate doors, the one placed about four inches
within the body of the roaster, the other even with its
front. As the inside door had no hinges, but, like a
common oven door, was taken quite away when the
roaster was opened, there was some trouble in the
management of it ; and it was found that the cooks, to
avoid that trouble, frequently threw it away, and used
the roaster without it. This contrivance of the cooks
to save trouble came very near to discredit the roasters

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 287

altogether, and to put a final stop to their introduction
in this country. The circumstance upon which the
principal merit of the roaster depends, and on which
the excellence of the food cooked in it depends entirely,
is the equality of the heat. When the heat is equal on
every side, it may be more moderate than when it is
unequal ; and the more moderate' and equal the heat is
by which meat can be properly roasted, the better tasted

Fig. 17.

and more wholesome will it be. Now it is quite impos-
sible to keep up an equal heat in a roaster which is
closed only by a single door of sheet iron ; for so much
heat will pass off through such a thin metallic door,
and be carried away by the cold air of the atmosphere
which is lying against the outside of it, that the degrees
of heat in different parts of the roaster must necessarily

288 On the Construction of Kitchen

be very different ; and the consequence of this inequality
will be either that the meat will not be sufficiently done
in some parts, or that the heat must be so much in-
creased as to prevent its being well done in any part.

In order to induce persons to be careful in the man-
agement of machinery of any kind which is new to
them, it is necessary to point out the bad consequences
which will result from such neglects and inattentions
as they are most liable to fall into in the use of it ; for,
however particular instructions may be, strict attention
to them cannot be expected from those who are not
aware of the bad effects that may result from what
may appear to them very trifling deviations or neglects.

Those who make roasters must take the greatest
care to construct them in such a manner that they
may be accurately closed, and that the heat may not
be able to make its way through their doors; and
those who use them must be careful to manage them
properly.

There are two ways in which the door of a roaster
may be constructed, so as to confine the heat perfectly
well, without giving any additional trouble to the cook
in the management of it. It may be made of a single
sheet of iron, and covered on the outside with a panel
of wood; or it may be constructed of two sheets of
iron, placed parallel to each other at the distance of
about an inch, and so fastened together that the air
between them may be confined.

When a door of single sheet iron is made to confine
the heat by means of an outside covering of wood, care
must be taken to make such outside wooden covering
in the form of a panel, otherwise it will not answer.
If a board be used instead of a framed panel, it will

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 289

most certainly warp with the heat, and will either de-
tach itself from the iron door to which it is fastened,
or will cause the door to bend and prevent its closing
the roaster with sufficient accuracy. I have seen sev-
eral attempts made to use boards instead of panels,
in covering the outsides of the iron doors of roasters
and iron ovens ; but they were all unsuccessful. It is
quite impossible that they ever should answer, as will
be evident to those who will take the trouble to con-
sider the matter with attention.

As doors of sheet iron, covered with wood on the
outside, when they are properly constructed, are ad-
mirably calculated for confining heat, I think it worth
while to give a detailed account of the precautions that
are necessary in the construction of them.

Of the best Method of covering the iron Doors of
Roasters and Ovens, etc., with wooden Panels, for
confining the Heat.

The object principally to be attended to in this busi-
ness is to contrive matters so that the shrinking and
swelling of the wood by alternate heat and moisture
shall have no tendency either to detach the wood from
the iron door, or to change its form, or to cause open-
ings in the wood by which the air confined between the
wood and the iron can make its escape.

The manner in which this may, in all cases, be done,
will be evident from an examination of the Fig. 18,
which represents a front view of the door of a cylin-
drical roaster, 18 inches in diameter, covered with a
square wooden panel.

It will be observed that this panel consists of a
square frame tenanted, and fastened together at each

VOL. III. 19

290

On the Construction of Kitchen

of its four corners with a single pin ; and filled up in
the middle with a square board or panel, which is con-
fined in its place, by being made to enter into deep
grooves or channels, made to receive it, in the insides
of the pieces which form the frame. The circular iron
door to which this panel is fixed cannot be seen in the
figure, being covered and concealed from view by the

Fig. 1 8.

wood, but its size and position are marked out by a
dotted circle ; and the heads of ten rivets are seen, by
which the wooden panel is fastened to the iron door.
These rivets are made to hold the wood fast to the iron
by means of small circular plates of sheet iron, which
are distinctly represented in the figure.*

If the positions of the pins by which the wooden
frame is fastened together, and of the rivets which
fasten the panel to the iron door, are considered, it
will be evident that all bad effects of the shrinking of
the wood by the heat are prevented by the proposed

* Instead of these rivets, short wood screws may be used for fastening the
wooden panel to the iron door ; but care must be taken to place these screws
in the same places which are pointed out for the rivets. The heads of the wood
screws must of course be on the inside of the iron door.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 291

construction. The four pieces of wood which consti-
tute the frame of the panel (which may be of com-
mon deal, and about four inches wide and one inch
thick), being fastened with one pin only at each of
their joinings at the corners, and these pins being sit-
uated in the centre of those joinings, if upon the frame,
in the middle of each of the four pieces which compose
it, a square be drawn in such a manner that the corners
of this square may coincide with the centres of the four
pins which hold the frame together, as neither heat nor
dryness makes any considerable alteration in the length
of the fibres of wood, it is evident that the shrinking of
the four pieces which compose this frame cannot alter
the dimensions of this square, or in any way change its
position. If, therefore, care be taken in fastening the
panel to the iron door to place the riveting-nails in
the lines which form the four sides of this square, the
shrinking of the wood will occasion no strain on the
iron door, nor have any tendency whatever to change
its form ; and with regard to the centre piece of the
panel, if it be fastened to the iron door by two rivets,
situated in the direction of the fibres of the wood, in
a line dividing this piece into two equal parts, its
shrinking will be attended with no kind of inconven-
ience. Care should, however, be taken to make this
panel enter so deeply into the grooves in its frame
that, when it has shrunk as much as possible, its width
shall not be so much reduced as to cause it to come
quite out of the grooves. This piece may be made
about one third of an inch thick, and the grooves
which receive it may be made of the same width, and
about three quarters of an inch deep.
• When wooden covers of this kind are made for iron

292 On the Construction of Kitchen

doors of large dimensions, they should be divided into
a number of compartments, otherwise the centre pieces,
or the panels properly so called, being very large, the
shrinking of the wood with heat will be apt to make
them quit the grooves of their frames, which would
open a passage for the cold air to approach the surface
of the iron door.

In fastening the wooden panel to its iron door, it will
be best that the wood should not come into immediate
contact with the iron. Two or three sheets of cartridge
paper, placed one upon the other, may be interposed
between them ; and, to prevent the possibility of this
paper taking fire, it may previously be rendered incom-
bustible by soaking it in a strong solution of alum,
mixed with a little Armenian bole or common clay.
This paper will not only assist very much in confining
the heat, but will also effectually prevent the wood from
being set on fire by heat communicated through the
iron door of the roaster. It is, indeed, highly improb-
able that the roaster should ever be so intensely heated
as to produce this effect ; but, as the strangest accidents
sometimes do happen, it is always wise to be prepared
for the worst that can happen.

As the centre piece of wood, or panel properly so
called, which fills up the wooden frame, is only one
third of an inch in thickness, while the frame is one
inch in thickness, it is evident that, if the face of the
frame be made to apply everywhere to the flat surface
of the iron door, the centre piece will not touch it.
This circumstance will be rather advantageous than
otherwise, in confining the heat; but still it will re-
quire some attention in fastening the wood to the iron.
Each of the two rivets which pass through this centre

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 293

piece must also be made to pass through a small block
of wood, about an inch square for instance, and one
third of an inch thick, which will give these rivets a
proper bearing, without any strain on the iron door
which can tend to alter its form.

When the wood and the iron are firmly riveted to-
gether, the superfluous paper may be taken away with
a knife.

The hinges of the door, which in the Fig. 18 are
seen projecting outwards on the right hand, are to be
riveted to the outside surface of the circular iron door ;
and, in order that they may not prevent the panel from
applying properly to the door, they are to be let into
the wood. The turn-buckles, by which the door is
fastened, must be made to press against the outside
or front of the wooden frame.

No inconvenience of any importance will arise from
leaving the wooden panel square, while the door itself
is circular ; but, if it should be thought better, the cor-
ners of the panels may be taken off, or the wooden
panel may be made circular. This should not, however,
be done till after the panel has been fixed to the door.
After this has been done, as the rivets will be sufficient
to hold the sides of the frame in their places, the cut-
ting off of the corners of the frame will produce no
bad consequences.

I have been the more particular in my account of
the manner of covering iron doors with wooden pan-
els, for the purpose of confining heat, as this contriv-
ance may be used with great advantage, not only for
roasters and ovens, but also for a variety of other pur-
poses ; for the covers of large boilers, for instance, for
the doors of hot closets, steam closets, etc.

294 On the Construction of Kitchen

Of double Doors for Roasters, constructed of two cir-
cular Pieces of sheet Iron seamed together.

No difficulty will be found in the construction of
these doors ; and though they may not, perhaps, con-
fine the heat quite so perfectly as the doors we have
just described, they answer very well; and, when the
outside of the door is japanned, they have a very hand-
some and cleanly appearance.

There are two ways of constructing them, either of
which may be adopted : the circular sheet of iron which
forms the inside of the door may be flat and the out-
side sheet dishing, or the outside sheet may be flat
and the inside sheet dishing ; but, whichever of these
methods is adopte'd, the hinges must be attached to the
outside of the door, and care must be taken to make
that part of the inside of the door quite flat which lies
against the end of the roaster, and closes it. The dis-
tance of the inside sheet of iron and the outside sheet
is not very essential : it should not, however, be less
than one inch in the centre of the door ; and these two
sheets should not touch each other anywhere, except
it be at their circumference, where they are fastened
together. In the centre of the outside sheet there
should be fixed a knob of iron or of brass, to serve as
a handle for opening and shutting the door.

Double doors of this kind might easily be constructed
of two circular pieces of cast iron, fastened together by
rivets ; or of one piece of cast iron, cast dishing, and
a flat piece of sheet iron turned over it. When- the
latter construction is adopted, the cast iron must form
the inside of the door, and its convex side must project
into the roaster. It should be quite flat near its cir-

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 295

cumference, in order that it may close the roaster with
accuracy; and it should be at least three quarters of an
inch larger in diameter than the roaster, in order that
no part of the circular plate of sheet iron, which should
be fastened to it by being turned over its' edge, may get
between it and the end of the roaster.

Of the Blowpipes.

There are various ways in which the blowpipes may
be fastened to the roaster. The common method, when
they are made of sheet iron, is to fasten them with rivets ;
but as blowpipes of sheet iron are liable to be burned out
in a few years, if much used, it is better to procure them
of cast iron from an iron founder, in which case they
should be cast with flanges, and should be keyed on
the inside of the roaster; and their joinings with the
bottom of the roaster must be made tight with some
good cement that will stand fire, and is proper for that
use.

The effect of the blowpipes will be considerably in-
creased if a certain quantity of iron wire, in loose coils,
or of iron turnings, be put into them. These being
heated by the fire, the air which passes through the
tubes, coming into contact with them, will be more
heated than it would be if the tubes were empty ; but
care must be taken that the quantities of these sub-
stances used be not so great as to choke up the tube
and obstruct too much the passage of the air.

The stoppers of the blowpipes must be made to close
them well, otherwise air will find its way through the
blowpipes into the roaster at times when it ought not
to be admitted. One of these stoppers, represented
on a large scale, is seen drawn a little way out of its

296 On the Construction of Kitchen

blowpipe, in the Fig. 1 7, page 287 ; and in that figure part
of the iron strap is seen which supports the front ends of
the two blowpipes, and confines them in their places.
This strap will not appear when the roaster is set, for
it will then be entirely covered and concealed by the
brick-work.

Where blowpipes are made of sheet iron, they should
be so constructed and so fastened to the roaster that
they may at any time be removed and replaced with-
out taking the roaster out of the brick-work. This
is necessary, in order that they may be taken away to
be repaired or replaced with new ones, when by long
use they become burned out and unfit for service. If
they be made with flanges, and keyed on the inside, and
if they be supported in front on an iron strap of the
form represented in Fig. 14, page 257, they may at any
time be removed with little trouble, by unkeying them
and removing a few bricks. When the bricks in front,
which it will be necessary to take away, are removed,
this will open a passage into the fire-place sufficiently
large to come at the wall at the farther end of the
fire-place, which must come away in order to disen-
gage the farther ends of the blowpipes, which are fixed
in it. This wall must be carefully built up again, after
the new blowpipes have been introduced and fastened
to the roaster.

Of the Steam-tube.

This is an essential part of the machinery of a roaster,
and must never be omitted. It should be situated some-
where in the upper part of the roaster, but it is not
necessary that it should be placed exactly at the top of
it. It might perhaps be thought that a hole in the

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 297

upper part of the door would serve the purpose of a
steam-tube ; but this contrivance would not be found
to answer. A steam-tube, properly constructed, will
have what is called a draught through it, which on
some occasions will be found to be very useful ; but a
hole in the door unconnected with a tube could have
no draught. It is absolutely necessary that there should
be a damper in the steam-tube. The simplest damper
is a circular plate of iron, a very little less in diameter
than the tube, which, being placed in it, is movable
about an axis, which is perpendicular to the axis of the
tube. This circular plate being turned about, and placed
in different positions in the tube by means of its axis,
which, being prolonged, comes forward through the
brick-work, the passage of the steam through the tube
is more or less obstructed by it. This prolonged axis,
which may be called the projecting handle of this dam-
per, is represented in the Figs. 14, 15, and 17. This
appears to me to be one of the simplest kind of dampers
I am acquainted with ; and it has this in particular to
recommend it, that it may be regulated without opening
any passage into the steam-tube, or into the roaster, by
which the air could force its way.

Of the Dripping-pan.

As the principal dripping-pan of a roaster is destined
for holding water, and as it is of much importance that
it should not leak, it should be hammered out of one
piece of sheet iron, in the same manner as a frying-pan
is formed ; or, if the metal be turned up at the corners,
it should be lapped over, but not cut, and all riveting-
nails should be avoided, except such as can be placed
very near the edge of the pan, and above the common

298 On the Construction of Kitchen

level of the water that is put into it To avoid the
necessity of placing any riveting-nail at the bottom of
the pan or near it, in fastening the sliders on which the
pan runs, these sliders should be made to pass upwards
by the ends of the pan, in order to their being fastened
to it near its brim.

The dripping-pan should not be made quite so long
as the roaster, for room must be left between the farther
end of it and the farther end of the roaster for the hot
air from the blowpipes to pass up into the upper part
of the roaster. In order to stop the dripping-pan in
its proper place when it is pushed into the roaster, the
farther end of the shelf on which it slides may be turned
upwards, and the brim of the dripping-pan made to
strike against this 'projecting part of the shelf. The
opening between this projecting part of the shelf and
the farther end of the roaster should be about i inch
or i J inches wide, and it may be just as long as the
dripping-pan is wide at the brim. This part of the shelf
which projects upwards should be |- an inch higher
than the brim of the dripping-pan, in order to prevent
the current of hot air from the blowpipes from striking
against the end of the dripping-pan, and heating it too
much. The shelf may be stopped in its proper place by
means of two horizontal projecting slips of iron about
i inch or i^ inches long each at its farther end, which,
striking against the end of the roaster, will prevent the
shelf from being pushed too far into it. The dripping-
pan should have two falling handles, one at each end of
it, which handles should have stops to hold them fast
when they are raised into a horizontal position. As
these handles will necessarily project a little beyond
the ends of the pan, even when they are not raised up,

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 299

the handle at the farther end of the pan will prevent the
brim of the pan from actually touching the projecting
end of the shelf; which circumstance will be advan-
tageous, as it will serve to defend the end of the pan,
and prevent its being so much heated as otherwise it
would be by the hot air from below.

I find, on inquiry from several persons who have lately
made the experiment, that it is by far the best method
to use two dripping-pans, one within the other, with
water between them. As the upper pan is very thin,
being made of tin * (tinned sheet iron), it is kept as
cool as is necessary by the water; and, the surface of the
water being covered and protected, it does not evaporate
so fast as when it is left exposed to the hot air in the
roaster.

Of the Precautions that may be used to prevent the
Dripping-pan from being too much heated.

This is a very important matter, and too much atten-
tion cannot be paid to it by those who construct roasters.
From what has been said, it is evident that, if in roasting
meat the water in the dripping-pan ever happens to be
all evaporated, the drippings from the meat which fall
on it cannot fail to fill the roaster with noxious fumes.
It is certainly not surprising that those who, in roasting
in a roaster, neglected to put water into the dripping-
pan should not much like the flavour of their roasted
meat.

There is a method of defending the dripping-pan from
heat, which many have put in practice with success ;

* Some persons have used a shallow earthen dish, instead of this second
dripping-pan ; but earthen-ware does not answer so well for this use as tin, as
it is more liable to be heated too much by the radiant heat from above.

300 On the Construction of Kitchen

but, although it effectually answers the purpose, yet it
is attended with a serious inconvenience, which, as it
is not very obvious, ought to be mentioned. When
the bottoms of roasters were made flat, their dripping-
pans were much more liable to be too much heated
than they are when, the body of the roaster being made
cylindrical, the dripping-pan is placed on a shelf in the
manner I have here recommended. And several persons,
rinding the water in the dripping-pans of their roasters
to boil away very fast, covered the (flat) bottoms of their
roasters with sand, or with a paving of thin tiles or bricks.
This produced the desired effect; but this contriv-
ance occasions the bottom of a roaster to be very soon
burned out and destroyed. The heat from the fire com-
municated to the urider side of the bottom of the roaster,
not being able to make its way upwards into the body of
the roaster through the stratum of sand or bricks (which
substances are non-conductors of heat), it is accumulated
in the bottom of the roaster, and becomes there so intense
as to destroy the iron in a short time.

The best method that can be adopted for preventing
the dripping-pan from being too much heated is to de-
fend the bottom of the roaster from the direct action
of the fire by interposing a screen of some kind or other
between it and the burning fuel. This screen may be
a plate of cast iron, about one third of an inch thick,
with a number of small holes through it, supported upon
iron bars at the distance of about an inch below the
bottom of the roaster ; or it may be formed of a row of
thin flat tiles laid upon the blowpipes, and supported by
them.

Roasters which are made of a cylindrical form will
hardly stand in need of any thing to screen them from

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 301

the fire, especially if their fire-places are situated at a
proper distance below them, and if the size of the fire
is kept within due bounds. But, after all, if the person
to whom the management of a roaster is committed is
determined to destroy it, no precautions can prevent it ;
and hence it appears how very necessary it is to secure
the good-will of the cooks. They ought certainly to
wish well to the success of these inventions ; for the
introduction of them cannot fail to diminish their
labour, and increase their comforts very much.

Of large Roasters, that will serve to roast and bake
at the same Time.

It has been found by experience that any roaster may
be made to roast and bake at the same time, in great
perfection, when the proper precautions are taken ; but
this can best be done when the roaster is of a large
size, from 20 inches to 24 inches in diameter, for in-
stance ; for in this case there will be room above the
meat for a shelf on which the things to be baked can be
placed. And even when there is no roasting going on
below it, any thing to be baked should be placed on
this shelf, in order to its being nearer to the top of the
roaster, where the process of baking goes on better
than anywhere else. In baking bread, pies, cakes, etc.,
it seems to be necessary that the heat should descend
in rays from the top of the oven ; and as the intensity
of the effects produced by the calorific rays which
proceed from a heated body is much greater near the
hot body than at a greater distance from it (being most
probably as the squares of the distances inversely), it is
evident why the process of baking should go on best in
a low oven, or when the thing to be baked is placed

302 On the Construction of Kitchen

near the top of the oven, or of the roaster, when it is
baked in a roaster.

The shelf in the upper part of a roaster for baking
may be made of a single piece of sheet iron, but it will
be much better to make it double ; that is to say, of two
pieces of sheet iron, placed at a small distance from
each other, and turned inwards, and fastened together
at their edges, in the manner which will presently be
more particularly described. This shelf, whether it be
made single or double, should be placed upon ledges,
riveted to the sides of the roasters ; and, to prevent the
hot air from the blowpipes from passing up between
the farther end of this shelf and the farther end of the
roaster, the shelf should be pushed quite back against
the end of the roaster. It should be made shorter than
the roaster by about two inches, in order that there may
be sufficient room, between the hither end of the shelf
and the inside of the door of the roaster, for the vapour
that ought to be driven out of the roaster to pass up-
wards to the opening of the steam-tube. This shelf
should not be fastened in its place, for it may some
times, when very large pieces of meat are roasted, be
found necessary to remove it.

As it seems probable that radiant heat from the top
and sides of the roaster acts an important part, even in
the process of roasting, if a roaster of very large dimen-
sions were to be constructed, I think it would be
advisable not to make its transverse section circular,
but elliptical, the longest axis of the ellipse being in a
horizontal position. This form would bring the top of
the roaster to be nearer to the meat than it would be if
its form were cylindrical, its capacity remaining the
same. How far a horizontal shelf of sheet iron, placed

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 303

immediately over the meat, and very near it, would
answer as a remedy for the defect of a roaster, the top
of which, on account of its great size, should be found
to be too far from the surface of the meat, I cannot pre-
tend to determine, as I never have made the experiment ;
but I think it well deserving of a trial. If the farther
end of this shelf were made to touch the farther end of
the roaster, so as to prevent the current of air from the
blowpipes from getting up between them, it is very
certain that this .hot air would be forced to impinge
against the shelf, and run along the under side of it,
to the hither end of the roaster. The only question
remaining, and which can only be determined by ex-
periment, is whether this hot air would heat the shelf
sufficiently, or to that temperature which is necessary
in order that the iron may throw off those calorific rays
which are wanted.

If this shelf were covered above with a pavement of
tiles, or if it were constructed of two sheets of iron
placed parallel to each other, at the distance of about
one inch, turned in or made dishing at their edges, and
seamed together at their ends and sides in such a man-
ner as to confine the air shut up between them, either
of these contrivances, by obstructing the heat in its
passage through the shelf, would promote its accumula-
tion at its under surface, which would not only increase
the intensity of the radiant heat where it is wanted,
but, by diminishing the quantity of heat which passes
through the shelf, would be very useful when any thing
is placed on it in order to be baked.

Whenever a shelf is made in a roaster, whether it be
situated above the dripping-pan or below it, I think it
would always be found advantageous to construct it in

304 On the Construction of Kitchen

the manner here described, viz., of two sheets of iron,
with confined air between them ; or perhaps it may
be still better to fill this cavity with finely pulverized
charcoal. The additional expense of constructing the
shelves of roasters in this manner would be but trifling ;
and the passage of the heat through them, which it is
always desirable to prevent as much as possible, will, by
this simple contrivance, be greatly obstructed. If the
lower shelf be so constructed, it will no doubt be found
very useful in preventing the too quick evaporation of
the water in the dripping-pan.

Of various Alterations that have been made in the
Forms of Roasters, and of the Advantages and Dis-
advantages of each of them.

The blowpipes of all the roasters that were con-
structed, till very lately, were made to pass round to

Fig. 19.

the farther end of the roaster; and, after forming
two right angles each, they entered the roaster, in a
horizontal direction, just above the level of the brim

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils.

305

of the dripping-pan, in the manner represented in the

Fig. 19.

The Fig. 20 shows the manner in which the blow-
pipes have been constructed of late.

Fig. 20.

The advantages of the former construction were a
great length of tube, and consequently a greater effect
on that account ; and a good direction to the current
of hot air. The disadvantages were the difficulty of
removing the tubes to repair them, without unsetting
the roaster ; and the difficulty of procuring blowpipes
of this form of cast iron ; and, lastly, the great depth
of space that was required for setting the roaster.

The advantages of the blowpipe, represented in
Fig. 20, have already been noticed. The disadvantage
from want of length is compensated by a small increase
of diameter. When this blowpipe is fastened to the
roaster, its flange is covered with a cement; and
the vertical end of the pipe being introduced into
the roaster through the circular hole in the bottom

306 On the Construction of Kitchen

of it, which is made to receive it, a flat iron ring,
covered with cement on its under side, is then slipped
over the end of the tube within the roaster, and a key
of iron, in the form of a wedge, being passed through
both sides of the tube in holes prepared to receive it,
by driving this wedge-like key with a hammer, the ring
is forced downwards, and at the same time the flange
of the blowpipe is forced upwards against the bottom of
the roaster, by which means the blowpipe is firmly fixed
in its place, and the cement makes the joinings air-
tight. By removing this key, the pipe may at any
time be renioved without deranging the roaster.

The Fig. 1 9 represents the section of a flat-bottomed
roaster. In this there is a shelf on which two pies are
seen baking, and a piece of meat is represented lying
on the gridiron.

In the Figs. 14 and 15, pages 257, 261, the front or
hither end of the roaster is represented as being turned
over a stout iron wire. The first roasters that were
constructed were all made in a different manner. The
hither end of the roaster was riveted to a broad flat
frame, constructed of stout plate iron; and to this
frame, or flat front, which projected before the brick-
work, the hinges and turn-buckles of the door were
fastened. An idea of this manner of constructing the
front of a roaster may be formed from the Fig. 21,
page 310, although this figure does not represent the
front of a roaster, but that of an oven, which will be
described presently.

There is no objection to this method of constructing
roasters but the expense of it.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 307

Of some Attempts to simplify the Construction of the
Roaster.

Finding that much more heat was always com-
municated to the under sides of roasters, especially
as they were first constructed (with flat bottoms), than
was there wanted, meditating on the means I could
employ to defend the bottom of the dripping-pan from
this excessive heat, without at the same time exposing
the bottom 'of the roaster to the danger of being soon
destroyed, in consequence of the accumulation of it
on its passage upwards being prevented, it occurred
to me that if the bottom of the roaster were covered
with a shallow iron pan turned upside down, with a
row of holes from side to side at the farther end of it,
and if a certain quantity of fresh air could occasionally
be admitted under this inverted pan, this cold air, on
coming into contact with the bottom of the roaster,
would take off the heat, and, becoming specifically
lighter on being heated, would pass upwards through
the holes at the farther end of this pan into the roaster,
serving at the same time three useful purposes ; namely,
to defend the dripping-pan ; to cool the bottom of the
roaster; and to assist in heating the inside of the
roaster above, where heat is most wanted. This in-
vention was put in practice, and was found to answer
very well all the purposes for which it was contrived.
It was likewise found that with proper management
the current of heated air from below the inverted
pan might be so regulated as to roast meat very well
without making any use of the blowpipes; and con-
sequently that roasters might be constructed without
blowpipes.

308 On the Construction of Kitchen

As the substitution of the contrivance above de-
scribed, in lieu of the blowpipes, would simplify the
construction of the roaster very much, and enable
tradesmen to afford the article at a much lower price,
I took a great deal of pains to find out whether a
roaster on this simple construction could be made to
perform as well as those which are made with blow-
pipes. I caused one of them to be put up in my own
house, and tried it frequently; and I engaged several
of my friends to try them ; and they were found to
answer so well that I ventured at length' to recom-
mend it to manufacturers to make them for sale. As
they were called roasters, and as they cost little more
than half what those with blowpipes were sold for, many
persons preferred them on account of their cheapness ;
and more than two hundred of them have already been
put up in different parts of the country, and I am in-
formed that they have answered to the entire satisfac-
tion of those who have tried them.

Although they are undoubtedly inferior in some re-
spects to roasters which are furnished with blowpipes,
meat may, with a little care and attention, be roasted
in them in very high perfection ; and, as nothing can
possibly answer better than they do for all kinds of
baking, they will, I am persuaded, find their way in
due time into common use.

Roasters on this simple construction (without blow-
pipes), which I shall call Roasting Ovens, were at first
made with flat bottoms, but of late they have been made
cylindrical ; and, as I think the cylindrical form much
the best in many respects, I shall give a description of
one of them.

Fig. 21 represents a front view of a cylindrical

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils.

309

roasting oven with its door shut. The front end of the
large cylinder, which constitutes the body of this oven,
instead of being turned over a stout wire, is turned out-
wards, and riveted to a flat piece of thick sheet iron,
which in this figure is distinguished by vertical lines,
and which I shall call the front of the oven.

The door of the oven is distinguished by horizontal
lines. The general form of the front of the oven is
circular ; but it has two projections on opposite sides
of it, to one of which the hinges of the door, and to the
other the turn-buckles for fastening it when it is closed,
are fastened. It has another projection above, which
serves as a frame to the doorway, through which a
brush is occasionally introduced for the purpose of
cleaning the flues. On one side of this projection
there is a small hole, which is distinguished by the
letter a, through which the handle or projecting axis
of the circular register of the vent-tube (which is not
seen) passes.

In the body of the oven, at the distance of half its

3io On the Construction of Kitchen

semi-diameter below its centre or axis, there is a hori-
zontal shelf, which is fixed in its place, not by resting
on ledges, or by being riveted to the sides of the oven,
but by its hither end being turned down, and firmly
riveted to the vertical plate of iron, which I have
called the front of the oven. This shelf, which should
be made double to prevent the heat from passing through
it from below, must not reach quite to the farther end
of the oven : there must be an opening left, about one
inch in width, between the end of it and the farther end
of the oven, through which opening the air heated
below the shelf will make its way upwards into the
upper part of the oven.

From what has been said, it will be evident that the
hollow space below the shelf we have just been de-
scribing, whicl} I shall call the air-chamber, is intended
to serve in lieu of the blowpipes of a roaster ; and this
office it will perform tolerably well, provided means are
used for admitting cold air into it, from without, occa-
sionally. This is done by means of a register, which
is situated at the lower part of the vertical front of the
roaster, a little below the bottom of the 'door. This
register is distinctly represented in the Fig. 21.

Fig. 22, which represents a vertical section of the
oven through its axis, shows the (double) door of the
roaster shut, and the two dripping-pans, one within
the other, standing on the shelf we have just been
describing, and a piece of meat above them, which is
supposed to be laying on a gridiron placed in the
second dripping-pan. The register of the air-cham-
ber below the shelf, which supplies the place of the
blowpipes, is represented as being open ; and a part of
the steam-tube is shown, through which the steam and

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils.

vapour are driven out of the oven, by the blast of hot
air from the air-chamber.

The cylinder which constitutes the body of the oven
is two feet long, and is supposed to be of cast iron. It
is cast with a flange, which projects outwards about one
inch at the opening of the cylinder, by means of which
flange it is attached, by rivets, to the front of the oven,
which, as I have already observed, must be made of
strong sheet iron, which may be near one eighth of
an inch in thickness.

Fig. 22.

4±

-1

As the shelf is not attached to the sides of the oven,
but to its front, the body of the oven need not be per-
forated, except in one place, namely, where the steam
goes off; and as the bottom or farther end of the
cylinder, and the flange at its hither end, and the
cylinder itself, are all cast at the same time, and as
the form of the oven is such as will deliver well from
the mould, it appears to me that the article might be
afforded at a low price, especially in this country, where
the art of casting in iron is carried to so high a pitch of
perfection.

312 On the Construction of Kitchen

The shelf might easily be made of cast iron, as might
also the dripping-pans and the double door of the oven ;
and I should not be surprised if English workmen should
succeed in making even the front of the oven and the
register of the air-chamber, and every other part of the
machinery, of that cheap and most useful metal.

If the shelf be made of cast iron, to save the trouble
of riveting in making it double, it may be covered by
an inverted shallow pan of cast iron ; and in the bottom
of this pan, which will be uppermost when it is inverted,
there may be cast two shallow grooves, both in the
direction of the length of the pan, and consequently
parallel to each other, in which grooves (which may be
situated about an inch from the sides of the inverted
pan) two parallel projections at a proper distance from
each other, cast at the bottom of the lower dripping-
pan, may pass. These projections, passing freely in
the grooves which receive them, will serve to keep the
dripping-pan steady in its proper direction when it is
pushed into or drawn out of the oven.

To increase the effect of the air-chamber when this
oven is used for roasting meat, a certain quantity of
iron wire in loose coils, or of iron turnings, may be put
into the air-chamber.

The door of the oven, which is very distinctly repre-
sented in the Fig. 21, should be about 19 inches in
diameter, if the oven is 18 inches in diameter within, or
in the clear. In this figure the internal edge or corner
of the hither end of the body of the oven is indicated
by a dotted circle, and the position of the shelf is pointed
out by a horizontal dotted line.

In fastening the vertical plate, which forms the front
of the oven, to the projecting flange at the hither end

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 313

of the cylindrical body of the oven, care must be taken
to beat down the heads of the riveting nails in front,
otherwise they will prevent the door of the oven from
closing it with that nicety which is requisite.

In setting this roasting-oven, the whole of the thick-
ness of the vertical front of it should be made to project
forward before the brick-work. The fire-place doors,
ash-pit, register-door, damper in the chimney, etc., should
be similar in all respects to those used for roasters ; and
the flues should likewise be constructed in the same
manner.

I have been the more particular in my description of
this roasting-oven, because I think it bids fair to become
a most useful implement of cookery. As an oven, it
certainly has one advantage over all ovens constructed
on the common principles, which must give it a decided
superiority. By means of the air-chamber and the steam-
tube it may be kept clear of all ill-scented and noxious
fumes without the admission of cold air.

Of the Difference between a Roasting-oven and a
Roaster.

From the account of the roasting-oven that has just
been given it might be imagined that it possesses all
the properties of the roaster, and in the same degree ;
but this is not the case. The essential difference be-
tween them is this : the blowpipes of the roaster being
surrounded by the flame on all sides, they are heated
above as well as below, and the air in passing through
them is much more exposed to the heat than it is in
passing through the air-chamber of the roasting-oven.
The particles of air which happen to come into contact
with the bottom of the oven will of course be heated ;

314 On the Construction of Kitchen

but if, in consequence of their acquired lightness on
being heated, they rise upwards to the top of the air-
chamber, they will there come in contact with the
bottom of the shelf, which, instead of communicating
more heat to them, will deprive them of a part of that
which they bring with them from below. But circum-
stances are very different in the blowpipes of a roaster :
in them the particles of air acquire continually additional
heat from every part of the surface with which they come
into contact in their passage through the tube.

From this view of the subject, we see how very essen-
tial it is that the shelf of a roasting-oven should be so
composed or constructed that heat may not readily find
its way through it ; and we see likewise how necessary
it is to manage the registers of blowpipes and of air-
chambers with proper care.

CHAPTER VI.

Of the Usefulness of small iron Ovens, and of the best
Methods of constructing them and managing them.

— Reasons why they have not succeeded in many Cases
where they have been tried. — Ovens may be used for
other Processes of Cookery besides Baking. — Curious
Results of some Attempts to boil Meat in an Oven.

— Explanation of these Appearances. — Conjectures
respecting the Origin of some national Customs.

IN the first part of this tenth Essay I recommended
small iron ovens for cottagers, and nests of small
ovens for the kitchens of large families ; and I have

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 315

had occasion to know since that several persons have
adopted them. I have likewise been made acquainted
with the results of many of the trials that have been
made of them, and with the complaints that have
been brought against them. As I am more than ever
of opinion that iron ovens will always be found useful
when they are properly constructed and properly man-
aged, I shall in this place add a few observations to
what I have already published concerning them.

And, in the first place, I must observe that a small
iron oven stands in need of a goo'd door; that is to say,
of a door well contrived for confining heat ; and the
smaller the oven is, so much the more necessary is it
that the door should be good.

The door must not only fit against the mouth of the
oven with accuracy, but it must be composed of mate-
rials through which heat does not easily make its way.

An oven door constructed of a single sheet of plate
iron will not answer, however accurately it may be made
to fit the oven ; for the heat will find its way through it,
and it will be carried off by the cold air of the atmosphere
which comes into contact with the outside of it. The
bottom of the oven may be made hot by the fire under
it; but the top and sides of it cannot be properly heated
while there is a continual and great loss of heat through
its door. But an oven, to perform well, must be very
equally heated in every part of it.

If the flame and smoke of the fire be made to sur-
round an oven on every side, and if the fire be properly
managed, there can be no difficulty in heating an iron
oven equally, and of keeping it at an equal temperature,
provided the loss of heat by and through the door be
prevented

3 1 6 On the Construction of Kitchen

If the door be constructed of sheet iron, it must either
be made double, or it must be covered on the outside
with a panel of wood. By a double door I do not here
mean two doors, but one door constructed of two sheets or
plates of iron placed parallel to and at a certain distance
from each other ; and so constructed that the air which
is between the two plates may be shut up and confined.
The two plates or sheets of iron, of which the double
-door of an oven is made, must not touch each other,
except at their edges (where they must join in order to
their being fastened together) ; for, were they to lie one
flat upon the other, the heat would pass too rapidly
through them, notwithstanding there being two of them ;
but it is not necessary that they should be farther asunder
than an inch or art inch and a half. One of the plates
may be quite flat, and the other a little convex. The end
of the oven must be made quite flat or level, so as to be
perfectly closed by a flat surface placed against it. The
door is that flat surface ; and the greatest care must be
taken that it apply with accuracy, or touch the end of
the oven in every part when it is pressed against it ; for
if any opening be left, especially if it be near the top
of the oven, the hot air in the oven will not fail to make
its escape out of it.

It never should be attempted to make the door of an
oven or of a closed fire-place fit, by causing it to shut
into a rabbet. That is a very bad method ; for, besides
the difficulty of executing the work with any kind of
accuracy, the expansion of the metal with heat is very
apt to derange the machinery, when the door is so con-
structed.

From what has been said of the necessity of causing
the door of an oven to fit with accuracy, it is evident

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 317

that care must be used to place its hinges properly;
and I have found, by experience, that such a door is
closed more accurately by two turn-buckles, placed at
a proper distance from each other, than by a single
latch. I beg pardon for repeating what has already
been said elsewhere.

Of the Management of the Fire in heating an iron
Oven.

If a certain degree of attention is always necessary
in the management of fire, there is certainly nothing
on which we can bestow our care that repays us so
amply ; and, with regard to the trouble of managing a
fire in a closed fire-place, it is really too inconsiderable
to deserve being mentioned.

Whenever a fire is made under an iron oven, in a
closed fire-place, constructed on good principles, there
is always a very strong draught or pressure of air into the
fire-place ; and this circumstance, which is unavoidable,
renders it necessary to keep the fire-place door con-
stantly closed, and to leave but a small opening for the
passage of the air through the ash-pit register. The
fire-place, too, should be made very small, and partic-
ularly the bottom of it, or the grate on which the fuel
burns.

If any of these precautions are neglected, the conse-
quences will be, — the rapid consumption of the fuel,
the sudden heating and burning of the bottom of the
oven, and the sudden cooling of the oven as 'soon as
the fire-place ceases to be filled with burning fuel.

It is a fact which ought never to be forgotten, " that
of the air that forces its way into a closed fire-place,
that part only which comes into actual contact with the

3i 8 On the Construction of Kitchen

burning fuel, and is decomposed by it in the process of
combustion, contributes any thing to the heat generated ;
and that all the rest of the air that finds its way into and
through a fire-place is a thief that steals heat, and flies
away with it up the chimney.'-'

The draught occasioned by a fire in a closed fire-place
being into the chimney and not into the fire, cold air
is as much disposed to rush in over the fire as through
it ; and it violently forces its way into the hot fire-place
by every aperture, even after all the fuel is consumed,
carrying the heat away with it up the chimney and into
the atmosphere. It even makes its way between the
bars of the grate whenever they are not quite covered
with burning fuel ; hence it appears how necessary it
is to make the grate of a closed fire-place small, and
to give to that part of the fire-place which is destined
for holding the fuel the form of an inverted truncated
cone or pyramid, or else to make it very deep in pro-
portion to its length and width.

But the prevention of the air from finding its way
through the fire-place without coming into contact with
the burning fuel is not the only advantage that is de-
rived from constructing closed fire-places in the manner
here recommended: it serves also to increase the in-
tensity of the heat in that part of the fire-place which
contains the fuel, which tends very powerfully to render
the combustion of the fuel complete, and consequently
to augment the quantity of heat generated in that
process?

To prevent the bottom of the oven (or boiler) from
being too much affected by this intense heat, nothing
more is necessary than to make the fire-place sufficiently
small, and to place it at a sufficient distance below the

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 319

bottom of the oven. It will be indispensably necessary,
however, with such a (small) fire-place, situated far below
the bottom of an oven, to keep the fire-place door well
closed, otherwise so much cold air will rush in over the
fire that it will be quite impossible to make the oven hot.

I have found by recent experiments that a fire-place
in the form of an oblong square or prism, 6 inches
wide, 9 inches long, and 6 inches deep, is sufficient to
heat an iron oven 18 inches wide, 24 inches long, and
from 12 to 15 inches in height; and that the grate of
this fire-place should be placed about 12 inches below
the bottom of the oven. More effectually to prevent
the fire from operating with too much violence upon
any one part of the bottom of the oven, the brick-work
may be so sloped outwards and upwards on every side
from the top of the burning fuel to the extreme parts
of the sides and ends of the bottom of the oven, that
the whole of the bottom of the oven may be exposed
to the direct rays from the fire.

In some cases I have suffered the flame to pass
freely up both sides of the oven to the top of it, and
then caused it to descend by the end of the oven to
the level of its bottom, or rather below it, and from
thence to pass off by a horizontal canal into the
chimney ; and in other cases I have caused it to pass
backwards and forwards in horizontal canals by the
sides of the oven, before I permitted it to go off into
the chimney. Either of these methods will do very
well, provided the smoke be made to descend -after it
has left the top of the oven, till it reaches below the
level of the bottom of it, before it is permitted to pass
off into the chimney ; and provided the canal by which
the smoke passes off be furnished with a damper.

320 On the Construction of Kitchen

In setting an oven, provision should be made, by leav-
ing holes to be stopped up with stoppers, for occasion-
ally cleaning out all the canals in which the smoke is
made to circulate ; and, in order that these canals may
not too often be choked up with soot, they should never
be made less than two inches wide, even where they
are very deep or broad ; and, where they are not more
than four or five inches deep, they should be from
three to four inches wide, otherwise they will be very
often choked up with soot.

To clean out the flues of an oven, roaster, or large
fixed boiler, a strong cylindrical brush may be used,
which may have a flexible handle made of three or more
iron wires, about \ or -fa of an inch in diameter, twisted
together.

Holes closed with fit stoppers must of course be left
in the brick-work for occasionally cleaning out these
flues.

If the iron door of an oven be made double, the out-
side of it may with safety be japanned black or white,
which will prevent its rusting, and add much to the
cleanliness and neatness of the appearance of the
kitchen.

These details may by some be thought unimportant
and tiresome, but those who know how much depends
on minute details in the introduction of new mechan-
ical improvements will be disposed to excuse the pro-
lixity of these descriptions. I wish I could make my
writings palatable to the generality of readers, but that,
I fear, is quite impossible. My subjects are too com-
mon and too humble to excite their curiosity, and will
not bear the high seasoning to which modern palates
are accustomed.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 321

A great disadvantage under which I labour is that,
of those who might profit most from my writings, many
will not read, and others cannot.

But to return to my subject. To save expense, small
ovens for poor families may be closed with flat stones
or with tiles ; and the fire-place door for such an oven,
and its ash-pit register, may be made of common bricks
placed edgewise, and made to slide against those
openings.

There is a circumstance respecting the iron ovens
I am describing, which is both curious and important.
The fire-place for an oven of the smallest size should
be nearly as capacious as one which is destined for heat-
ing a much larger oven ; and I have found, by repeated
experiments, that a nest of four small ovens, set to-
gether, and heated by the same fire, will require but
very little more fuel to heat them than would be nec-
essary to heat one of them, were it set alone. An
attentive consideration of the manner in which the
heat is applied — of the smallness of the quantity, in
all cases, that is applied to the heating of the contents
of the oven, and the much greater quantity that is
expended in heating the fire-place and the flues — will
enable us to account for this curious fact in a manner
that is perfectly philosophical and satisfactory.

A cottage oven 1 1 inches wide, 10 inches high, and
1 6 inches long, will require a fire-place 5 inches wide,
5 inches high, and 7 inches long ; and for four of these
ovens, set together in a nest, the fire-place need not be
more than 6 inches wide, 6 inches high, and 8 inches
long.

I have in my house at Brompton two iron ovens, each
1 8 inches wide, 14 inches high, and 24 inches long, set

322 On the Construction of Kitchen

one over the other, and heated by the same fire; and
their fire-place is only 6 inches wide, 6 inches high, and
9 inches long.

If the fire-place of an iron oven be properly constructed,
and if the fire be properly managed, it is almost incred-
ible how small a quantity of fuel will answer for heating
the oven, and for keeping it hot. But if the fire-place
door be allowed to stand open, and a torrent of cold air
be permitted to rush into the fire-place and through the
flues, it will be found quite impossible to heat the oven
properly, whatever maybe the quantity of fuel consumed
under it ; and neither the baking of bread nor of pies,
nor any other process of cookery, can be performed in
it in a suitable manner.

A very moderate share indeed of ingenuity is required
in the proper management of a fire in a closed fire-place,
and very little attention. And as it requires no bodily
exertion, but saves labour and expense and anxiety;
and as moreover it is an interesting and amusing oc-
cupation, attended by no disgusting circumstance, and
productive of none but pleasing, agreeable, and useful
consequences, we may, I think, venture to hope that
those prejudices which prevent the introduction of
these improvements will in time be removed.

It is not obstinacy, it is that apathy which follows a
total corruption of taste and morals, that is an incurable
evil ; for that, alas ! there is no remedy but calamity and
extermination.

Ovens may be used in boiling and stewing, and also in
warming Rooms.

There are so many different ways in which the heat
necessary in preparing food may be applied, that it

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 323

would not be surprising if one should sometimes be
embarrassed in the choice of them ; and I am not
without apprehension that I may embarrass my readers
by describing and recommending so many of them.
The fact is, they all have their different kinds of merit,
and in the choice of them regard must always be had
to the existing circumstances.

Desirous of contriving a fire-place on as simple a
construction as possible, that should serve at the same
time for heating a room and for the performance of all
the common processes of cookery for a small family, and
which moreover should not be expensive nor require
much attendance, I caused four small iron ovens to
be set in the opening of a common chimney fire-place.
These ovens, which were constructed of sheet iron, and
were furnished with doors of the same sheet iron, each
covered with a panel of wood to confine the heat, were
1 6 inches long, n inches wide, and 10 inches high
each ; and they were set in brick-work in such a manner
that the fronts of the doors of the ovens being even with
the side of the room, the original opening of the chim-
ney fire-place, which was large, was completely filled
up. These ovens were all heated by one small fire, the
closed fire-place being situated about 12 inches below
the level of the bottoms of the two lowermost ovens,
and perpendicularly under the division between them,
and the passage into the fire-place was closed by a fit
stopper.

From this description, it will not be difficult for any
person who has perused the preceding chapters of this
Essay to form a perfect idea of this arrangement ; and
it is equally easy to perceive that, had not the open
chimney fire-place in which these four ovens were set

324 On the Construction of Kitchen

been very large, I should have been under the necessity
of enlarging it, or at least of raising its mantel, in order
to have been able to introduce these ovens, and set them
at proper distances from each other.

I shall now proceed to give an account of the experi-
ments that were made with this fire-place.

My first attempt was to warm the room by means of
it. A small fire being made in its closed fire-place, its
oven doors were all set wide open, and the room, though
by no means small, soon became very warm. This
warming apparatus was now, to all intents and pur-
poses, a German stove. By shutting two of the oven
doors, the heat of the room was sensibly diminished ;
and by leaving only one of them open it was found that
a moderate degree of warmth might be kept up even
in cold weather.

As no person in this country would be satisfied with
any fire-place, if in its arrangement provision were not
made for boiling a tea-kettle, I caused a very broad
shallow tea-kettle, with a bottom perfectly flat, to be
constructed of common tin, and, filling it with cold
water, placed it in one of the two lower ovens, and shut
the oven door. Although the fire under the ovens was
but small, it burned very bright, and the water in the
tea-kettle was soon made to boil.

I was not surprised that the water boiled in a short
time, for it was what I expected ; but on removing the
tea-kettle I observed an appearance which did surprise
me, and which indicated a degree of heat in the oven
which I had no idea of finding there. The handle of
the tea-kettle resembled very much in form the handle
of a common tea-kettle, but, like the rest of the kettle,
was constructed of tin, or, to speak more properly, of
tinned sheet iron.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 325

On removing the kettle from the oven I found that
the tin on its handle had been melted, and had fallen
down in drops, which rested on the body of the kettle
below, where they had congealed, having been cooled
by the water in the kettle.

This discovery convinced me that I should not fail of
obtaining in these ovens any degree of heat that could
possibly be wanted in any culinary process whatever: it
showed me likewise that degrees of temperature much
higher than that of boiling water may exist in a closed
oven in which water is boiling; and it seemed to indi-
cate that all the different culinary processes of boiling,
stewing, roasting, and baking might be carried on at
the same time in one and the same oven. Subsequent
experiments have since confirmed all these indications,
and have put the facts beyond all doubt. These facts
are certainly curious, and the knowledge of them may
lead to useful improvements ; for they may enable us to
simplify very much the implements used in cookery.

Having found that I could boil water in my small
ovens, my next attempt was to boil meat in them. I
put about three pounds of beef, in one compact lump,
into an earthen pot, and filling the pot to within about
two inches of its brim with cold water, I set it in one
of the lower ovens, shutting the door of the oven, and
keeping up a small steady fire in the fire-place. In
about two hours and three quarters the meat was found
to be sufficiently boiled ; and all those who partook of
it (and they were not fewer than nine or ten persons)
agreed in thinking it perfectly good and uncommonly
savoury. On my guard against the illusions which
frequently are produced by novelty, I should have had
doubts respecting the reality of those superior qualities

326 On the Construction of Kitchen

ascribed to this boiled beef, had not an uncommon
appearance in the water in which it had been boiled
attracted my attention. This water, after the meat had
been boiled in it, appeared to be nearly as transparent,
and as colourless as when it was brought from the
pump. It immediately occurred to me that this effect
could be owing to nothing else but to the state of per-
fect quiet in which the water must necessarily have
been during the greater part of the time it remained in
the oven ; and, to determine whether this was really the
case or not, I made the following decisive experiment.

Having provided two equal pieces of beef from the
same carcass, I put them into two stewpans of nearly
the same form and dimensions ; one of them, which had
a cover, being constructed of earthen-ware, while the
other, which had no cover, was made of copper.

Into these stewpans I now put equal quantities of
water, — with this difference, however, that while the
water put into the copper stewpan was cold, that put
into the other was boiling hot. A small fire being now
made in the fire-place, these two stewpans, with their
contents, were introduced into the two lower ovens.
The earthen stewpan was set down upon a ten-inch
tile, which had previously been placed in the oven to
serve as a support for it, in order to prevent the bottom
of the stewpan from coming into immediate contact
with the bottom of the oven, and the door of that oven
was shut ; but the copper stewpan was set down imme-
diately on the bottom of its oven, and the door of that
oven was left open during the whole time the experi-
ment lasted.

At the end of three hours the stewpans were taken
out of the ovens, and their contents were examined.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 327

The appearances were just what I expected to find
them. The meat in each of the stewpans was suffi-
ciently boiled, but there was certainly a very striking
difference in the appearance of the liquor remaining
in the two utensils ; and, if I was not much mistaken,
there was a sensible difference in the taste of the two
pieces of meat, that boiled in the earthen stew-pan being
the most juicy and most savoury. The water remaining
in this vessel — and little of it had evaporated — was
still very transparent and colourless, and nearly taste-
less, while the liquor in the copper stewpan was found
to be a rich meat broth.

The result of this experiment recalled very forcibly
to my recollection a dispute I had had several years
before, in Germany, with the cook of a friend of mine,
who at my recommendation had altered his kitchen
fire-place ; in which dispute I now saw I was in the
wrong, and, seeing it, felt a desire more easy to be con-
ceived than to be described to make an apology to
an innocent person whom I had unjustly suspected of
wilful misrepresentation. This woman (for it was a
female cook), on being repeatedly reprimanded for
sending to table a kind of soup of inferior quality,
which, before the kitchen was altered, she had always
been famous for making in the highest perfection, per-
sisted in declaring that she could not make the same
good rich soup in the new-fashioned boilers (fitted up
in closed fire-places, and heated by small fires) as she
used to make in the old boilers, set down upon the
hearth before a great roaring wood fire.

The woman was perfectly in the right. To make
a rich meat soup, the juices must be washed out of
the meat, and intimately mixed with the water; and

328 On the Construction of Kitchen

this washing out in boiling must be greatly facilitated
and expedited by the continual and rapid motion into
which the contents of a boiler are necessarily thrown
when heat is applied to one side of it only, especially
when that heat is sufficiently intense to keep the liquid
continually boiling with vehemence. I ought, no doubt,
to have foreseen this ; but how difficult is it to foresee
any thing ! It is much easier to explain than to predict.

If it be admitted that fluids in receiving and giving
off heat are necessarily thrown into internal motions
in consequence of the changes of specific gravity in
the particles of the fluid, occasioned by the alteration
of their temperatures, we shall be able to account, in a
manner perfectly satisfactory, not only for the appear-
ances observed in' the experiments above mentioned,
and for the superior richness of the soup made by the
Bavarian cook in her boiler, but also for several other
curious facts.

When the copper stewpan, containing cold water
and a piece of meat, was put into an iron oven, heated
by a fire situated below it, as the bottom of the oven on
which the stewpan was placed was very hot, the heat,
passing rapidly through the flat bottom of this metallic
utensil, communicated heat to the lower stratum of the
water, which, becoming specifically lighter on being
thus heated, was crowded out of its place, and forced
upwards by the superincumbent colder and conse-
quently heavier liquid. This necessarily occasioned
a motion in every part of the fluid, and this motion
must have been rapid in proportion as the communica-
tion of heat was rapid ; and it is evident that it could
never cease, unless all the water in the stewpan could
have acquired and preserved an equal and a permanent

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 329

temperature, which, under the existing circumstances,
was impossible ; for, as the door of the oven was left
open, the upper surface of the water was continually
cooled by giving off heat to the cold atmosphere, which,
rushing into the oven, came into contact with it ; and,
as soon as the water was made boiling hot, an internal
motion of another kind was produced in it, in conse-
quence of the formation and escape of the steam, which
last motion was likewise rapid and violent in propor-
tion to the rapidity of the communication of heat.
Hence we see that the water in the copper stewpan
must have been in a state of continual agitation from
the time it went into the oven till it came out of it ;
and the. state in which this liquid was found at the end
of the experiment was precisely that which might have
been expected, on a supposition that 'these motions
would take place. Let us now see what, agreeably
to our assumed principles, ought to have taken place
in the other stewpan.

In this case, its contents having been nearly boiling
hot when the stewpan was put into the oven, and the
door of the oven having been kept closed, and the stew-
pan covered with its earthen cover, and the stewpan
being moreover earthen-ware, which substance is a very
bad conductor of heat, and being placed not immedi-
ately on the bottom of the oven, but on a thick tile,
every circumstance was highly favourable not only for
keeping up the equal heat of the water, but also for
preventing it from receiving additional heat so rapidly
as to agitate it by boiling. There is therefore every
reason to think that the water remained at rest, or
nearly so, during the whole time it was in the oven ;
and the transparency of this fluid at the end of the

330 On the Construction of Kitchen

experiment indicated that little or none of the juices
of the meat had been mixed with it.

When the Bavarian cook made soup in her own
way, the materials (the meat and water) were put into
a tall cylindrical boiler, and this boiler was set down
upon the hearth against a wood fire, in such a manner
that the heat was applied to one side only of the boiler,
while the other sides of it were exposed to the cold air
of the atmosphere ; consequently the communication
of the heat to the water produced in it a rapid circu-
latory motion, and, when the water boiled, this motion
became still more violent. And this process being
carried on for a considerable length of time, the juices
of the meat were so completely washed out of it that
what remained of it were merely tasteless fibres ; but
when the ingredients for this meat-soup, taken in the
same proportions, were cooked during the same length
of time in a boiler set in a closed fire-place and heated
by a small equal fire, — this moderate heat being applied
to the boiler on every side at the same time, while the
loss of heat at the surface of the liquid was effectually
prevented by the double cover of the boiler, — the in-
ternal motions in the water, occasioned by its receiving-
heat, were not only very gentle, but they were so di-
vided into a vast number of separate ascending and
descending small currents, that the mechanical effects
of their impulse on the meat could hardly be sensible ;
and as the fire was so regulated that the boiling was
never allowed to be at all vehement (the liquid being
merely kept gently simmering) after the contents of
the boiler were once brought to the temperature of
boiling, the currents occasioned by the heating ceased
of course, and the liquid remained nearly in a state of

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 331

rest during the remainder of the time that the process
of cooking was continued. The soup was found to be
of a very inferior quality, but on the other hand the
meat was uncommonly juicy and savoury.

These minute investigations may perhaps be tire-
some to some readers ; but those who feel the im-
portance of the subject, and perceive the infinite
advantages to the human species that mi^ht be de-
rived from a more intimate knowledge of the science
of preparing food, will be disposed to engage with
cheerfulness in these truly interesting and entertain-
ing researches ; and such readers,- and such only, will
perceive that it has not been without design that, in
chapters devoted to the explanation of subjects the
most humble, I have frequently introduced abstruse
philosophical researches and the results of profound
meditation.

I am not unacquainted with the manners of the age.
I have lived much in the world, and have studied man-
kind attentively, and am fully aware of all the difficul-
ties I have to encounter in the pursuit of the great object
to which I have devoted myself. I am even sensible,
fully sensible, of the dangers to which I expose myself.
In this selfish and suspicious age, it is hardly possible
that justice should be done to the purity of my motives;
and in the present state of society, when so few who
have leisure can bring themselves to take the trouble
to read any thing except it be for mere amusement,
I can hardly expect to engage attention. I may write,
but what will writing avail if nobody will read. My
bookseller, indeed, will not be ruined as long as it shall
continue to be fashionable to have fine libraries. But
my object will not be attained unless my writings are

33 2 On the Construction of Kitchen

read, and the importance of the subjects of my inves-
tigations are felt.

Persons who have been satiated with indulgences
and luxuries of every kind are sometimes tempted by
the novelty of an untried pursuit. My best endeavours
shall not be wanting to give to the objects I recommend
not only all the alluring charms of novelty, but also the
power of procuring a pleasure as new, perhaps, as it is
pure and lasting.

How might I exult could I but succeed so far as to
make it fashionable for the rich to take the trouble
to choose for themselves those enjoyments which their
money can command, instead of being the dupes of
those tyrants who, in the garb of submissive fawning
slaves, not only plunder them in the most disgraceful
manner, but render them at the same time perfectly
ridiculous, and fit for that destruction which is always
hear at hand when good taste has been driven quite off
the stage.

When I see in the capital of a great country, in the
midst of summer, a coachman sitting on a coach-box
dressed in a thick heavy greatcoat with sixteen capes, I
am not suprised to find the coach door surrounded by
group of naked beggars.

We should tremble at such appearances, did not the
shortness of life and the extreme levity of the human
character render us insensible to dangers while at any
distance, however great and impending and inevitable
they may be.

But to return from this digression.

It is frequently useful, and is always amusing, to trace
the differences in the customs and usages of different
countries to their causes. The French have for ages

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 333

been remarkable for their fondness for soups, and for
their skill in preparing them. Now as national habits
of this kind must necessarily originate at a very early
period of society, and must depend on peculiar local
circumstances, may not the prevalence of the custom of
eating soup in France be ascribed to the open chimney
fire-places and wood fires which have ever been common
in that country ?

It is certain that in the infancy of society, before
the arts had made any considerable progress, families
cooked their victuals by the same fire which warmed
them. Kitchens then were not known ; and the utensils
used in cooking were extremely simple, an earthen pot
perhaps set down before the fire. We have just seen
that, with such an apparatus, soups of the very best
qualities would naturally be produced ; and it is not
surprising that a whole nation should acquire a fondness
for a species of food not only excellent in its kind, but
cheap, nutritious, and wholesome, and easily pre-
pared.

Had coals been the fuel used in France, it is not
likely that soups would have been so generally adopted
in that country ; for a common coal fire is not favour-
able for making good soups, although with a little
management the very best soups may be made, and
every other process of cooking be performed, in the
highest perfection with any kind of fuel.

When the science of cookery is once well understood,
or an intimate knowledge is acquired of the precise nat-
ure of those chemical and mechanical changes which
are produced in the various culinary processes, we may
then, and not till then, take measures with certainty
for improving the art of preparing food. Experience,

334 On the Construction of Kitchen Fire-places, etc.

unassisted by science, may lead, and frequently does
lead, to useful improvements ; but the progress of such
improvement is not only slow, but vacillating, uncertain,
and very unsatisfactory. On that account, no doubt, it
is that men of science have in all ages been respected
as valuable members of society.

PART III.

CHAPTER VII.

Of the Construction of Boilers, Stewpans, etc. — Choice
of the Material for constructing Kitchen Utensils. —
Objections to Copper. — Iron much less unwholesome.

— Of the Attempts that have been made in different
Countries to cover the Surface of iron Boilers with
an Enamel. — Of Earthen-ware glazed with Salt. —
Stewpans and Saucepans of that Substance recom-
mended. — Kitchen Utensils of Earthen-ware may be
covered and protected by an Armor of sheet Copper.

— Wedgewood's Ware unglazed would answer very
well for Kitchen Utensils. — Directions for construct-
ing Stewpans and Saucepans of Copper in such a
Manner as to make them more durable, and more
easy to be kept clean. — These Utensils are frequently
corroded and destroyed by the Operation of what has
been called the Galvanic Influence. — Of the Construc-
tion of Covers for Kitchen Boilers, Stewpans, etc.

THE choice of the material to be used in construct-
ing kitchen boilers, stewpans, etc., is a matter of so
much importance that I cannot pass it over in silence ;
though I am very sensible that all I can offer on the
subject will not be sufficient to remove entirely the
various difficulties I shall be obliged to point out.

336 On the Construction of Kitchen

The objects principally to be had in view in the choice
of materials to be used in the construction of kitchen
utensils are wholesomeness, cheapness, and durability.
The material most commonly used for constructing
kitchen boilers and saucepans is copper ; but the poi-
sonous qualities of that metal, and the facility with
which it is corroded and dissolved by the acids which
abound in those substances that are used as food, has long
been known and lamented. And numerous attempts
have been made to prevent its deleterious effects, by cov-
ering its surface with tin and with other metallic sub-
stances, and with various kinds of varnish and enamel ;
but none of these contrivances have completely answered
the purpose for which they were designed.

The method which has been found to be most effect-
ual is to keep the copper utensils well tinned, or to tin
them afresh as often as the copper begins to appear,
and this is what is now commonly practised ; but still
it were to be wished that some good substitute might
be found for that unwholesome metal.

Iron has often been proposed ; and though it is more
liable to be corroded even than copper, yet as the rust
(oxide) of iron is not poisonous, though it changes the
colour of some kinds of food that are cooked in it, and
in some cases communicates an astringent taste to them,
it is not thought to make food unwholesome.

There is, however, one precaution by means of which
the disagreeable effects produced by this metal on food
that is prepared in utensils constructed of it may be
very much diminished, and indeed in most cases almost
entirely prevented, especially when the utensil is made
of cast iron. If, instead of scouring the inside of iron
boilers and stewpans with sand, and keeping them

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 337

bright, which notable housewives are apt to do, in
order that their kitchen furniture may appear neat and
clean, they be simply washed and rinsed out with warm
water, and wiped with a soft dishcloth or towel, the
surface of the metal will soon become covered with a
thin crust or coating of a dark brown colour resem-
bling enamel ; which covering, if it be suffered to remain
and to consolidate, will at last become so hard as to take
a very good polish, and will serve very efficaciously to
defend the surface of the metal from farther corrosion,
and consequently to prevent the food from acquiring
that taste and colour which iron is apt to impart to it.

The process by which this covering is gradually formed
is similar to that by which some gunsmiths brown the
barrels of fowling-pieces, and could no doubt be greatly
expedited by the same means which they employ ^for
that purpose. The object had in view is likewise the
same in both cases, namely, by causing a hard and im-
penetrable covering of rust to be formed on the surface
of the iron to defend it from a contact with those sub-
stances which are capable of dissolving or corroding it ;
or, in other words, to prevent the farther progress of the
rust.

For iron utensils designed merely im frying or cooking
in fat there is an easy and a very effectual precaution
that may be taken for preventing rust. It is to avoid put-
ting hot water into them, and above all to avoid boiling,
or even heating, water in them. They may occasionally
be washed out with warm water ; but as often as this is
done great care must be taken to wipe them perfectly
dry with a dry cloth before they are put away.

The effects produced by this management may be
explained in a satisfactory manner. As fatty or oily

338 On the Construction of Kitchen

substances cannot communicate oxygen to iron (with
which that metal must unite in order that rust may
be formed), and as they prevent the approach of other
substances which could furnish it (air, water, acids, etc.)
as long as the surface of the iron is completely covered
by them, it is evident that no rust can be formed. But
boiling-hot water, and more especially water heated and
actually made to boil in such a vessel, could not fail to
dislodge the fat from the surface of the metal, and leave
it naked and exposed to every thing that is capable of
corroding it.

Kitchen utensils made of iron may be tinned on the
inside to preserve them from rust ; and this is frequently
done. But even tin, though it be much less liable to be
dissolved by those substances which are used i-n cookery
than iron or copper, yet it is sometimes sensibly corroded
by them, and consequently is taken into the stomach
with our food.

What its effects may be on the human body, when
taken in very small quantities, I cannot pretend to
determine. In large doses it is well known to be a
fatal poison.

That the tin with which the insides of kitchen boilers
and stewpans are covered is actually corroded in many
of the processes of cookery is rendered highly probable
by the very short time that such a coating lasts, when
the utensil is in daily use ; but I had, not long since,
a still more striking proof of that fact. Learning by
accident, from my cook, that a dish of which I am very
fond (stewed pears, which I frequently eat with bread
and milk for my supper), required three hours' boiling,
it occurred to me that, as this process was performed in
a copper stewpan tinned, and as it lasted so long a time,

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 339

the tin might perhaps be attacked, and some part of
it dissolved by the acid of the pears, or by that of the
sugar which was mixed with them. In order that I
might be able to enjoy my favourite dish free from all
apprehensions of being poisoned, I ordered it to be
always prepared in future in a stewpan of porcelain;
but, several of these vessels having been destroyed in
a short time by the fire in this process, I found myself
obliged to abandon this scheme on account of these
frequent accidents ; and I now had recourse to my
roaster.

The pears, being previously cut in quarters, and freed
from their skins, seeds, and cores, were put, with a suffi-
cient quantity of water and sugar, into a shallow glass
basin fitted with a glass cover, and this basin, being
placed upon a brick, was put into the roaster ; and, a
small fire being made under it, the water in the basin
was soon brought to boil, and in less than three hours
the pears were found to be sufficiently done.

When they were served up, I observed that their
colour was different from what it had always been
before ; and, inquiring into the cause of it, I was let
into a secret which explained the matter completely.
The cook informed me that it was absolutely impossible
to give a beautiful red colour to stewed pears without
some metal, and that their colour would not have been
so fine as it was when they were cooked in porcelain,
had not the precaution been taken to boil a pewter spoon
with them. The reader can easily imagine how much I
was surprised at receiving this unexpected information.

This ingenious contrivance is similar to one some-
times used in this country, — that of boiling half-pence
with greens to give them a fine colour.

34-O On the Construction of Kitchen

Several years ago a variety of attempts was made in
Sweden to improve cooking utensils made of iron, by
covering them on the inside with a kind of enamel, to
protect them from rust ; and since that time a consid-
erable manufacture of cast iron boilers and stewpans,
covered within with white enamel, was established by
Count Heinitz, on his estate in Silesia ; but this scheme
has not succeeded entirely, owing to the difficulty of
finding an enamel capable of uniting with iron, the
expansion of which with heat shall be so nearly equal to
the expansion of iron as not to be liable to crack and
fly off upon being suddenly exposed to heat and to
cold ; and even were it possible to compose an enamel
that would withstand the effects of the heat and the
cold, and the blows to which it would be exposed in
the business of the kitchen, there would still remain a
very important point to be ascertained, which is whether
the matter of which the enamel is composed is not
itself of a poisonous nature, and whether there is not
reason to apprehend that it might communicate its
deleterious qualities to the food.

Lead is an essential ingredient in most, if not all,
enamels, and as its effects are known to be extremely
pernicious to health, under all its various forms, when
taken internally, it would be highly necessary to ascer-
tain, by the most rigid experimental investigation,
whether the enamel of kitchen utensils contains any
lead or other noxi ->us metals or unwholesome substance ;
and, if this be the case, whether such poisonous sub-
stance be liable to be corroded and dissolved, or mixed
in any other manner with the food.

It is possible that a poisonous substance may be so
fixed, on being mixed and united with other substances,

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 341

as to render it perfectly insoluble, and consequently
perfectly inert and harmless; but still the fact ought
to be well ascertained before it is admitted.

A large proportion of the calx of lead enters into
the composition of flint glass, yet it is not probable
that flint glass ever communicates any thing poisonous
to food or drink that is kept in it. But, on the other
hand, there is reason to conclude that the glazing of
common pottery, which is likewise composed in part
of calx of lead, is not equally safe, when earthen ves-
sels covered with it are used as implements of cookery.
In some countries the use of such vessels in the pro-
cesses of boiling and stewing is forbidden by the laws,
under severe penalties; and in this country it is not
customary to use earthen vessels, so glazed, for preserv-
ing pickles, and other substances designed for the use
of the table which contain strong acids.

The best glazing for earthen vessels that are to be
used in preparing or preserving food is most undoubt-
edly made with common salt, as this glazing (which
appears to be merely the beginning of a vitrification of
the earth at the surface of the vessel) is not only very
hard and durable, but it is also perfectly insoluble in
all the acids and other substances in common use in
kitchens, and contains nothing poisonous or unwhole-
some.

A large proportion of lead enters into the composi-
tion of pewter ; but it has lately been proved, by many
ingenious experiments made to ascertain the fact, that
the lead, united to tin and the other metallic substances
that are used in composing pewter, is incomparably less
liable to be dissolved by acids, and consequently much
less unwholesome than when it is pure or unmixed with

342 On the Construction of Kitchen

other metals. This fact is very important, as it tends
to remove all apprehension respecting the unwhole-
someness of a very useful compound metal, which, from
its cheapness, as well as on account of its durability,
renders it peculiarly well adapted for many domestic
uses. It would not, however, be advisable to boil or
stew any kind of food, especially such as contain acids,
in pewter vessels ; nor should acid substances ever be
suffered to remain long in them.

The best, or at least the most wholesome, material for
stewpans and saucepans is, undoubtedly, earthen-ware
glazed with salt.* Several manufactories of this kind
of pottery have lately been established in this country,
and one in particular in, the King's Road, at Chelsea,
which belonged to the late Mrs. Hempel, which is, I
believe, now carried on by her sons. The principal
reason why this article has not long since found its
way into common use is, no doubt, the brittleness of
earthen-ware, and its being so liable to crack on being
suddenly exposed to heat or to cold ; for, excepting this
imperfection, it has every thing to recommend it. It
is perfectly wholesome (when glazed with salt), and
is kept clean with little trouble; and things cooked in

* Nothing is more pernicious than the glazing of common coarse earthen-
ware. There is no objection to unglazed earthen-ware but its being apt to
imbibe moisture, which renders it difficult to be kept clean. I have lately seen
some kitchen utensils of very fine, compact, unglazed earthen-ware, bought at
Mr. Wedgewood's manufactory, which I thought very good. They were made
thin, and seemed to stand the fire very well ; and, as their surface was very
smooth, they were easily kept clean. I wish that the intelligent gentlemen
who direct that noble manufactory would turn their attention to the improve-
ment of an article so nearly connected with the health, comfort, and peace of
mind of a great portion of society. Stewpans of this material, suspended in a
cylindrical armor of sheet iron, would be admirably calculated for the register
stoves I shall recommend. Some of these stoves may be seen in the great
kitchen of the Royal Institution.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 343

it are much less liable to be burned to the sides of
the vessel, and spoiled, than when the utensil is formed
of a metallic substance.

There is a very great difference in earthen-ware in
respect to its power of withstanding the heat without
injury, on being suddenly exposed to the action of a
fire, some kinds of it being much less liable to crack
and fly, when so exposed, than others ; and, in order
to take measures with certainty for diminishing this
imperfection, we have only to consider the causes from
which it proceeds. Now it is quite certain that the
cracking of an earthen vessel, on its being put over
a fire, is owing to two circumstances, — the brittleness
of the substance, and the difficulty or slowness with
which heat passes through it; for it is evident that
neither of these circumstances alone, or acting singly,
would be capable of producing the effect.

As heat expands all solid bodies, if one side of a ves-
sel, composed of a brittle substance, be suddenly heated
and expanded, it must crack, or rather it must cause
the other surface to crack, unless the heat can make
its way through the solid substance of the vessel, and
heat and expand that other surface so expeditiously
as to prevent that accident. Now, as heat passes
through a vessel which is thin sooner than through
one (composed of the same material) which is thicker,
it is evident that the thinner an earthen vessel for
cooking is made, the less liable will it be to receive
injury on being exposed to sudden heat or cold.

I mention sudden cold as being dangerous, and it is
easy to see why it must be equally so with sudden heat.
If a brittle vessel be (by slow degrees) made very hot,
if the heat be equally distributed throughout the whole

344 On the Construction of Kitchen

of its substance, this heat, however intense it may be,
will have no tendency whatever to cause the vessel to
crack ; for, the expansion being equal at the two oppo-
site surfaces, the tension at those surfaces will be equal
also. But, if cold water be suddenly poured into a
vessel so heated, its internal surface will be suddenly
cooled and as suddenly contracted ; and as the ex-
ternal surface cannot contract, being forcibly kept in
a state of expansion by the heat, the inside surface
must necessarily crack, in consequence o{ its contrac-
tion, and this fracture will make its way immediately
through the whole solid substance of the vessel from
the inside to the outside surface.

Sudden heat applied to one side or surface of a
brittle vessel causes the opposite side of it to crack;
but sudden cold causes the side to crack to which the
cold is applied.

By forming distinct ideas of what happens in these
two cases, every thing relative to the subject under
consideration will be rendered perfectly clear and in-
telligible.

The form of a vessel has a considerable effect in
rendering it more or less liable to be cracked and
destroyed by sudden heat or cold. All flat surfaces,
sharp corners, and inequalities of thickness, should, as
much as possible, be avoided. The globular form is
the best of all, and next to it are those forms which
approach nearest to it ; and the thinner the utensil is
made, consistent with the requisite strength to resist
occasional blows, the better it will be in all respects.

The best composition for earthen-ware for culinary
purposes is, I am told, pounded Hessian crucibles, or
any kind of broken earthen-ware of that kind, reduced

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 345

to powder, and mixed with a very small proportion of
Stourbridge clay.

The method of glazing this ware with salt is by
throwing decrepitated common salt into the top of the
kiln, with an iron ladle, through six or eight holes made
for that purpose in different parts of the top of the kiln.
These holes, which need not be more than four inches
in diameter each, may be kept covered with common
bricks laid over them.

The salt should not be thrown in till the ware is
sufficiently burned and till it has acquired the most in-
tense heat that can be given it ; and the holes should
be immediately closed as soon as the salt is thrown in.
If as much as a large handful of salt be thrown into
each hole, that will be sufficient, unless the kiln be very
large.

The salt is immediately reduced to vapour by the
intense heat, and this vapour expands itself and fills
every part of the kiln, and disposes the ware to vitrify
at its surface.

I have made several attempts to protect stewpans
and saucepans of earthen-ware from danger from sud-
den heat, and from accidental blows, by covering them
on the outside with sheet copper and with sheet iron ;
and in these attempts I have succeeded tolerably well.
Several stewpans covered in this manner may be seen
in the kitchen and in the repository of the Royal In-
stitution. As the subject is of infinite importance to
the health and comfort of mankind, I wish that some
ingenious and enterprising tradesman would turn his
attention to it.

As cooking utensils of tinned iron are incomparably
less dangerous to health than those which are made of

346 On the Construction of Kitchen

copper, I have taken considerable pains to get service-
able stewpans and saucepans made of that material.
The great difficulty was to unite durability with cheap-
ness and cleanliness. How far I have succeeded in this
attempt will be seen hereafter.

As it is probable the copper stewpans and saucepans
will continue to be used, at least for a considerable time
to come, notwithstanding the objections which have so
often been made to that poisonous metal, I shall pro-
ceed to an investigation of the best forms for those
utensils.

Before I proceed to a consideration of the improve-
ments that may be made in the forms of kitchen uten-
sils, I must bespeak the patience of the reader. It is quite
impossible to make the subject interesting to those who
read merely for amusement, and such would do well
to pass over the remainder of this chapter without
giving it a perusal ; but I dare not treat any part of a
subject lightly which I have promised to investigate.
Besides this, I really think the details, in which I am
now about to engage, of no inconsiderable degree of
importance ; and many other persons will, no doubt,
be of the same opinion respecting them. The smallest
real improvement of any utensil in general and daily
use must be productive of advantages that are incalcu-
lable. It is probable that more than a million of kitchen
boilers and stewpans are in use everyday in the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland ; and the provid-
ing and keeping kitchen furniture in repair is a heavy
article of expense in housekeeping. I am certain that
this expense may be considerably lessened ; and, in doing
this, that kitchen utensils may be made much more con-
venient neat, and elegant than they now are.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 347

As it is indispensably necessary, in recommending
new mechanical improvements, not only to point out
what alterations ought to be made, but also to show
distinctly how the work to be done can be executed in
the easiest and best manner, the fear of being by some
thought prolix and tiresome must not deter me from
being very particular and minute in my descriptions
and instructions.

In justice it ought always to be remembered that my
object in writing is professedly to be useful, and that I
lay no claim to the applause of those delicate and severe
judges of literary composition, who read more with a
view to being pleased by fine writing than to acquire
information. If those who are quick of apprehension
are sometimes tempted to find fault with me for being
too particular, they must remember that it is not given
to all to be quick of apprehension, and that it is amiable
to have patience and to be indulgent. But to proceed.

As the fire employed in heating stewpans, sauce-
pans, etc., may be applied in a variety of different ways,
and as the form of the utensil ought in all cases to be
adapted to the form of the fire-place and to the mode
of applying the heat, it is necessary, in laying down
rules for the construction of stewpans and kitchen
boilers, to take into consideration the construction of
the fire-places in which they are to be used. But
kitchen fire-places, constructed on the best principles,
are susceptible of a variety of different forms.

In the spacious dwellings of the rich, where large
rooms are set apart for the sole purpose of cooking,
a number of separate fire-places, in large masses of
brick-work constructed on the principles adopted in
the kitchen of Baron de Lerchenfeld, at Munich, will

348 On the Construction of Kitchen

be found most convenient (see page 203 *) ; but for per-
sons of moderate fortunes, to whom the economy of
house-room is an object of importance, a less expen-
sive arrangement may be chosen.

It is very easy (as will be shown hereafter) so to
arrange the implements necessary in cooking for a
moderate family, as to leave the kitchen not merely
a habitable, but also a perfectly comfortable and even
an elegant room. All those who have seen the kitchen
in my house, at Brompton (which was fitted up prin-
cipally with a view to exemplify that important fact),
will not doubt the truth of this assertion.

In treating the subject I have proposed to investigate
in this chapter, I shall first consider what forms will be
best for saucepans and stewpans that are designed to
be used in fixed fire-places, and shall then show how
those should be constructed which are designed to be
heated in a different manner.

Of the Construction of Saucepans and Stewpans for
fixed Fire-places.

The reasons have already been given why stewpans
and saucepans ought always to be circular. They are
indeed always made in that form ; but still, as they are
commonly constructed, they have a fault which renders

* For all such fire-places, at least for all such as are destined for heating
stewpans and saucepans, I am quite sure that wood is the cheapest fuel that
can be used, even here in London, where it bears so high a price. It is certainly
the most cleanly and most convenient, and makes the most manageable fire. I
found by an experiment, made on purpose to ascertain the fact, that any given
quantity of wood, burned in a closed fire-place, gives very near three times as
much heat as it would give if it were first reduced to charcoal, and then burned
in the same fire-place. But the great advantage of using wood as fuel in the
small fire-places of stewpans and saucepans is the facility with which it may
be kindled, and the facility and quickness with which the fire may be put out
(by shutting the dampers) when it is no longer wanted.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 349

them but ill adapted for the closed fire-places I have
recommended. Their handles being fastened to them
on their outsides (by rivets), the regularity of their form
is destroyed, and they cannot be made to fit well to the
circular openings in their fire-places, which they ought
to occupy and to fill.

There are two ways in which this imperfection may
be remedied: the first, which is the least expensive, but
which is also at the same time the least perfect, is to
rivet the handle to the inside of the saucepan. This
leaves the outside of the saucepan circular or cylindrical,
that is to say, if care is taken to beat down the heads of
the riveting nails, and to make them flat and even with
the outside surface of the vessel ; but the regularity
of the form of the inside of the saucepan will in this
case be spoiled by that part of the handle that enters
the saucepan, which circumstance will not only render
it more difficult to keep the saucepan clean, but will
also make it impossible to close it well with a circular
cover. The cover may indeed be so contrived as to fit
the opening of the saucepan by making a notch in one

Fig. 23.

side of it to receive that part of the handle which is in
the way ; and in this manner I have sometimes caused
kitchen utensils already on hand to be altered and made
to serve very well for closed fire-places. The Figs. 23

350 On the Construction of Kitchen

and 24 will give a perfect idea of the manner in which
these alterations were executed.

Fig. 24.

But, when new saucepans and stewpans are con-
structed, I would strongly recommend the following
more simple and more advantageous contrivance.

A circular rim of iron should be provided for each
saucepan with a handle belonging to it, of the form
here represented ; and, by forming the saucepan to this

rim, its form at its brim will be circular within and with-
out; and consequently the saucepan will exactly fit the
circular opening of its fire-place, and will at the same
time be exactly fitted by its circular cover. No attention
will in that case be necessary, in putting on the cover, to
place it in any particular manner or situation ; and the
saucepan, not being pierced with holes for rivets, will,
on that account, be less liable to leak, and will also be
more durable and more easily kept clean.*

* One reason is obvious why stewpans without rivets should be more durable
than those which have their handles riveted to them ; but there is 'another reason
more occult, which requires the knowledge of a late discovery in chemistry to
understand. When iron and copper, in contact with each other, are placed in a
situation in which they are exposed to be frequently wetted, they acf on each
other very powerfully, and one of the metals will soon be destroyed by rust.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 351

The circular iron rim above recommended should be
broad and flat, from -fo to ^ of an inch in thickness,
and from £ an inch to f of an inch in width. Its handle,
which must be welded fast to it, and must project from
one side of it, may be from i^ inch to i £ in width, from
6 to 8 or i o inches long, and of the same thickness as
the circular rim where it joins it.

The under side of this flat iron rim should be made
perfectly flat, in order that the saucepan, by being sus-
pended by it in its fire-place, may so completely close
the circular opening of the fire-place as to prevent the
smoke from coming into the room ; and also to prevent
(what would be much more likely to happen) the cold
air of the room from descending into the fire-place, and
mixing there with the flame and smoke, and afterwards
going off thus heated through the chimney into the
atmosphere.

The copper saucepan or stewpan is to be fastened

When ships first began to be covered with copper, this fact was not known, and
great inconvenience was found to arise from the rapid decay of the iron bolts in
the vessels so covered. As there appeared to be no remedy for this evil, it was
found necessary to substitute copper bolts for iron bolts ' in constructing ships
intended to be coppered. These effects are now known to depend on what
(from the name of its discoverer) has been called the Galvanic influence.

It appears to me to be highly probable that stewpans and saucepans, con-
structed in the manner above described, would last more than twice as long as
those made in the usual manner. Frequent attempts have been made to line
copper boilers and saucepans with tinned iron (commonly called sheet iron) in
order to guard against the poisonous qualities of the copper ; but none of these
have succeeded so well as was expected, the tin being found to be destroyed
by rust with uncommon rapidity. This, no doubt, was owing to the influence
of the same cause by which the iron bolts of coppered ships were so suddenly
destroyed.

If handles must be riveted to the sides of copper saucepans or boilers, such
handles should be made of copper and not of iron ; and the nails by which the)
are fastened should likewise be copper. They would cost something more at-
first, but the utensils would last so much longer that they would turn out to be
much the cheapest in the end.

352 On the Construction of Kitchen

to its iron rim by being turned over its outward edge ;
and in order that the copper, thus turned over the out-
ward edge of the iron rim, may hold fast without pro-
jecting below the level of the lower flat surface of the
ring (which would be attended with inconvenience), the
lower part of the outward edge of the ring must be
chamfered away in the manner represented in the
following figure (26), which shows a vertical section of
the ring, of the full size, with the copper turned over it.

Fig. 26.

The upper inside edge of this iron ring may be
rounded off, as it is represented to be in the above
figure. In this figure the section of the ring is dis-
tinguished by diagonal lines, and that of the copper
(which is turned over it) by two parallel crooked lines.

When stewpans and saucepans are constructed on
the principles here recommended (with flat circular
iron rings), an advantage will be attained, which in
many cases will be found to be of no small impor-
tance : they will be well adapted for being used in small
portable fire-places heated by charcoal, or in portable
stoves heated (or rather kept hot) by heaters. Descrip-
tions of these portable fire-places and heater-stoves will
be given in the sequel of this work.

As the upper part of the circular opening of the fire-
place (Fig. 27), on the top of which the lower part of
the circular rim of the saucepan reposes, is nearly on
a level with the top of the solid mass of the brick-work,

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils.

353

it is necessary that the handle of the saucepan should
be bended upwards, so as to be above the level of the
brim of the saucepan; otherwise, when the saucepan
is in its place, there would not be room between the
handle and the surface of the brick-work for the fingers
to pass in taking hold of the handle to remove the sauce-
pan. This is evident from a bare inspection of the fol-
lowing figure (27), which represents the section of a
saucepan constructed on the plan here proposed, fitted
into its fire-place.

Fig. 27.

There should be a round hole, about a \ of an inch
in diameter, near the end of the handle, by which the
saucepan may occasionally be hung up on a nail or
peg when it is not in use. The cover belonging to the
saucepan may be hung up on the same nail or peg,
by means of the projection of its rim.

These will be thought trifling matters ; but it must
not be forgotten that convenience and the economy of
time are often the result of attention to the arrange-
ment of things apparently of little importance.

In constructing the cover of a saucepan, care must
be taken to avoid a fault, into which it is easy to fall,

354 On the Construction of Kitchen

and which, as I have found by experience, will be at-
tended with disagreeable consequences. The circular
plate of tin, or of thin sheet copper tinned, which forms
the bottom of the cover, should be of the same diam-
eter precisely as the outside of the brim of the sauce-
pan.

I once thought it would be better to make the bot-
tom of the cover rather larger than the top of the brim
of the saucepan, as it is represented in the following
section : —

Fig. 28.

I imagined that it would prevent any thing that
happened by accident to be spilled on the cover from
finding its way into the saucepan and spoiling the vict-
uals, and this indeed it would do most effectually ; but
it often occasioned another accident not less disagree-
able in its effects. It drew the smoke into the sauce-
pan, which happened to escape by the sides of the
circular opening of the fire-place.

When the cover is precisely of the same diameter
as the brim of the saucepan, there is little danger of
any thing entering the saucepan in this manner, as
will be evident from an inspection of the following
figure : —

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 355

- Fig. 29.

The bottom of the cover may either be made quite
flat, as in this section : —

Fig. 30.

I J

Or it may be made concave, and of a conical form,

thus : —

Fig. 31-

Or concave, and of a spherical figure, as is represented
in the following figure : —

Fig. 32.

The only utility derived from making the bottom
of the cover hollow instead of flat is that a little more

356 On the Construction of Kitchen

room is left for the boiling up or swelling of the contents
of the saucepan. Cooks will be best able to judge how
far this is an object of importance.

In each of the three last figures a section of the tube
which carries off the steam is shown, as also a section
of the rim of the cover that enters the saucepan. This
rim, which may be from f of an inch to i inch in breadth,
should be made to fit the opening of the saucepan with
some degree of nicety; but it should not be fitted so
closely as to require any effort in removing it, or so as
to render it necessary to use both hands in doing it, —
one to hold the saucepan fast in its place, and the other
to take off its cover.

The steam-tube of the cover, which may be 1 an inch
or \ of an inch m diameter, and should project about
| an inch above the top of the cover, must pass through
both the top and the bottom of the cover, and must be
well fitted and soldered in both, in order that the air
between the top of the cover and its bottom may be
confined and completely cut off from all communication
with the steam, and also with the external air. This
steam-tube should have a fit stopple, which may be
made of wood, and which, to prevent its being lost,
should be attached to the top of the cover by a small
wire chain about 2 or 3 inches long.

In respect to the handles of these covers, the choice
of the form to be adopted may be left to the workman
who is employed to make the cover ; for, excepting in
certain cases, which will be particularly noticed here-
after, it is a point of little importance.

It is right that I should observe here that though the
covers I have here described are such as I have gener-
ally-recommended, yet others of different forms may be

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 357

constructed on the same principles, that very possibly
may answer quite as well as these, and cost less. The
steam-tube, for instance, for small saucepans, may with
safety be omitted, and the steam be left to make its way
between the rim of the cover and the saucepan ; and,
should it be thought an improvement, the upper part
of the cover, instead of being a cone, may be a segment
of a sphere.

The following figure is the section of the cover of a
saucepan now in general use in this country. It is

Fig. 33-

made of a circular piece of sheet copper, and its handle,
which is of iron, is fastened to it by rivets ; and it is
tinned on the under side. Its form is such that it
fits without a rim into the saucepan to which it
belongs.

This cover might be greatly improved, and perhaps
rendered as well adapted for confining heat as any
metal cover whatever, merely by covering it above with
a thin circular plate of tinned iron or of copper, either
quite flat or convex, like that represented by this
figure : —

Fig. 34-

It can hardly be necessary for me to observe that this
thin circular plate must be well soldered to the cover
all round its circumference, in order to confine the air
that is intercepted between the upper surface of the
cover and the lower surface of this plate.

358 On the Construction of Kitchen

For the mere purpose of confining the heat in a
stewpan or small boiler — were superior neatness and
cleanliness not objects of particular attention — one
of the very best covers that could be used would be a
common saucepan cover, defended above from the cold
air of the atmosphere by a circular cover of wood firmly
fixed to it by means of a screw or a rivet.

The following figures represent covers so defended ;
and were the circular piece of wood to prevent its

Fig- 35- C , J Fig. 37,

warping to be composed of two or three very thin
boards, glued fast to each other and nailed or riveted
together to unite them more strongly, I am inclined
to think that this would be one of the best covers for
common use, especially for large stewpans, that could
be made. Its handle might be made of wood, and of
either of the forms represented in these figures, or of
any other simple form.

The covers for large stewpans should always be fur-
nished with steam-tubes, in order that the steam, when
it becomes too strong to be confined, may escape with-
out deranging or lifting up the cover.

A cover made entirely of wood might answer very
well for confining heat, especially if care were taken to
construct it in such a manner as to prevent its being
liable to be warped by the heat and by the moisture
to which it is continually exposed ; but the wooden

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 359

covers of boilers, saucepans, and stewpans, require
much attention to keep them clean, unless they be
lined with tin or with sheet copper.

Having now finished my observations on the covers
of small boilers and saucepans, in their most simple
state, when they are designed merely for confining
heat, it remains to consider of the means that may
be put in practice to render them useful in directing
the heat that escapes in the steam, which is formed
when liquids are boiled in the various processes of
cookery, and employing this heat to useful purposes.

As the quantity of heat that exists in steam is very
considerable (as has been elsewhere observed), the re-
covery of this heat is frequently an object deserving of
attention ; but, before we proceed in this inquiry, it will
be necessary to say something respecting the method,
of cooking in steam. This subject will be treated in
the following chapter.

CHAPTER VIII.

Of cooking in Steam. — Objections to the Steam-kitchens
now in Use. — Principles on which a steam Apparatus
for cooking should be constructed. — Descriptions of
fixed Boilers for cooking with Steam. — A particular
Description of a STEAM-RIM for Boilers by Means of
which their Covers may be made steam-tight. — De-
scription of a STEAM-DISH to be used occasionally for
cooking with Steam over a Kitchen Boiler. — Accoiint

360 On the Construction of Kitchen

of what has been called a FAMILY BOILER : many of
them have already been sold, and have been found very
useful. — Hints to Cooks concerning the Means that
may be used for improving some popular Dishes.

AS the art of cooking with steam is well known,
and has long been successfully practised in this
country, it would be a waste of time to attempt to prove
what is universally acknowledged ; namely, that almost
every kind of food usually prepared for the table in
boiling water may be as well cooked, and in many
cases better, by means of boiling-hot steam. I shall
therefore confine my present inquiries to the investi-
gation of the best methods of confining and directing
steam, and employing it usefully with the most simple
and least expensive apparatus.

Steam-kitchens, as they are called, consist of very
expensive machinery, and I have been informed, by
several persons who have used them, that they do not
produce any considerable saving of fuel. Bare inspec-
tion is, indeed, sufficient to show that they cannot be
economical in that respect ; for the surface of the tin
steam-vessel filled with hot steam that is exposed quite
naked to the cold air of the atmosphere is so great, that
it must necessarily occasion a very considerable loss of
heat.

A primary object in contriving a steam apparatus for
cooking should be to prevent the loss of heat through
the sides of the containing vessels ; and this is to be
done, first, by exposing as small a surface as possible
to the atmosphere ; and, secondly, by covering up that
surface with the warmest covering that can conven-
iently be used, to defend it from the cold air.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 361

The steam-vessel in the kitchen of the Foundling
Hospital is a large wooden box lined with tin, capable
of containing a large quantity of potatoes; and the
steam comes through a small tin tube from an oblong
quadrangular iron boiler which is used daily for boiling
meat, etc., for the Hospital. As this boiler is furnished
with what I have called a steam-rim (which will pres-
ently be described), when the (wooden) cover of the
boiler is down, all the steam that is generated in the
boiler is forced to pass through the steam-box, and
the potatoes, greens, etc., that are in the box are
cooked without any additional expense of fuel.

The steam-box has a steam-rim and also a wooden
cover which, when it is down, closes the box and makes
it perfectly steam-tight.

When steam is generated faster than it can be
condensed in the steam-box, that which is redundant
passes off by a waste -tube, which conducts it into a
neighbouring chimney.

The apparatus for cooking with steam in the kitchen
of the House of Correction, at Munich, is still more
simple. Here two equal quadrangular boilers are set,
one at the end of the other, at the same level, in the
same mass of brick-work ; and the flame and smoke
from the same fire pass under them both (see Plate X.,
Fig. 7, and Plate XL, Fig. 9). Both boilers being en-
closed in brick-work and being covered with wooden
covers, it is evident that no part of the apparatus is
exposed to the cold air. I say no part of it ; for the
covers of the boilers being of wood, which is one of
the worst conductors of heat, very little heat can make
its way through them ; and to prevent even this loss,
inconsiderable as it is, these wooden covers may, if it

362 On the Construction of Kitchen

should be thought necessary, be defended from the cold
air by warm rugs thrown over them.

The smoke which passes under the second boiler not
only prevents the approach of the cold air to the under
surface of its bottom, but, acting on the small quantity
of water that is contained in it, actually assists in
the generation of steam. It even happens sometimes
(namely, when there is but a small quantity of water
in the second boiler, and the first is nearly filled with
cold water) that the water in the second boiler actually
, boils and fills the boiler with steam, before the water
in the first boiler is heated boiling-hot.

This appears to me to be one of the most economical
methods that can be used for cooking, and that it is
well adapted for hospitals and also for large private
families. If it should be necessary to make provision
for cooking a great number of different dishes in steam
at the same time, either the steam-boiler may be made
sufficiently large to receive them, or, instead of it, two
or more steam-boilers of a moderate size may be put
up ; and, if the different kinds of food that are cooked
at the same time in the same steam-boiler be placed
each in a separate dish and covered over with some
proper vessel in the form of a bell (a common earthen
pot, for instance, turned upside down), the exhalations
from the different kinds of food will be prevented from
so mixing together as to give an improper taste or
flavour to any of the victuals.

These covers to the different dishes will likewise be
useful on another account. When the cover of the
steam-boiler is opened for the purpose of examining or
of introducing or removing any dish, the process of
cooking going on in the other dishes will not be in-

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 363

terrupted, for their bell-like covers, remaining filled with
steam, will prevent the cold air from coming into con-
tact with the victuals. It is true that the cover or lid
of the steam-boiler must not be kept open too long,
otherwise the steam confined under the covers of the
dishes will be condensed, and the cold air will find its
way under them.

In order that these boilers may be perfectly steam-
tight when their lids are down, they must all be fur-
nished with steam-rims; and there must be a tube of
communication between them for the passage of the
steam, and another tube to carry off the redundant
steam from the boiler which is situated farthest from
the fire.

If it should be necessary, the principal boiler may,
without any difficulty or inconvenience, be divided into
two compartments, so as to render it possible to pre-
pare two different kinds of soup, or to boil two differ-
ent things separately at the same time. Suppose, for
instance, that the apparatus is designed for the kitchen
of a large family, and that the principal boiler is 12
inches wide, 24 inches long, and 1 2 inches deep. This
may be so divided by a vertical partition as to form
two compartments : the one, that immediately over the
fire, for instance, 12 inches by 10; and the other, 12
inches by £4. In this case I should make the second,
or steam-boiler, 24 inches square by 1 2 inches deep, and
should cause the smoke to circulate in three flues par-
allel to each other. The first (in the hither end of which
the fire-place should be situated) should be immediately
under the first boiler, and the second and third should
be under the second boiler.

364

On the Construction of Kitchen

The following figure shows the manner in which
these boilers should be set: —

Fig- 38.

A, B, is the side of the room ; A, C, D, E, the mass
of brick-work in which the boilers are set; F and G
are the two compartments of the first boiler, which is
shown with its steam-rim ; H is the larger boiler, which
is also represented with its steam-rim.

The covers of these boilers (which do not appear in
the figure) should be so attached to the boilers by hinges
as to be laid back when the boilers are opened, and
rested against the side of the room ; and these covers
should be lined with tin or with thin sheet copper
tinned.

Fig. 39-

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 365

The foregoing figure represents a horizontal section
of the brick-work in which these boilers are to be set,
taken at the level of the tops of the flues.

A, B, is the side of the room ; and A, C, D, E, the
mass of brick-work which is placed against it ; F, G,
and H are the three parallel flues ; and I is the canal
that carries off the smoke from the second boiler to
the chimney; K is the opening into the fire-place
by which the fuel is introduced ; and L is a passage,
closed up with a tile or with loose bricks, which is
occasionally opened to clean the flues, G and H. The
damper in the canal, I, may be placed near the left-
hand side of the second boiler. The situations of the
boilers are indicated by dotted lines.

As it is not necessary that I should repeat in this
place the directions which have already been so amply
explained concerning the proper method of proceeding
in setting boilers, I shall not enlarge farther on that
subject, but shall proceed to give an account of a
very essential part, not yet described, of the apparatus
necessary for cooking with steam in the simple way I
have here recommended : the part I mean is the steam-
rim of the boiler.

Description of a Steam-rim for a Boiler, by Means of
which its Cover may easily be made steam-tight.

To give a more complete idea of this contrivance,
I have, in the following figure, represented a vertical
section of a small part of one side of a boiler and its
steam-rim with its (wooden) cover in its place, both of
one half size.

A, B, is a section of part of the flat wooden cover;
the crooked line, C, D, is a section of the steam-rim,

366

On the Construction of Kitchen

and part of the side of a boiler; E is a section of a
descending rim of wood belonging to and making an
essential part of the cover, which rim, when the cover
is down, enters the steam-rim of the boiler, and reposes
on the bottom of it. In the figure it is represented in
this situation : the wooden rim of the cover is fastened

to the flat part of it by means of wood-screws, one of
which is represented in the figure.*

Now it is evident, from an inspection of the figure,
that a small quantity of water will lodge in the steam-
rim, and will stand at the level of the dotted line, F, G ;
and, as the rim of the cover will enter this water when
the cover is shut down, all communication between the
steam in the boiler and the external air must necessarily
be cut off, and of course the steam will be completely
confined.

It is true that, if in consequence of the increase
of its temperature above the heat of water boiling in
the open air the elasticity of the steam should become
sufficient to overcome the pressure of the atmosphere,

* The cover itself is supposed to be framed and panelled in the manner
described in the fifth chapter of this Essay, and it should be lined with tin or
with thin sheet copper tinned, in order to prevent the wood from being cracked
and destroyed by the steam.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 367

it will force the water in the steam-rim to ascend toward
C, and, getting under the rim, E, of the cover of the
boiler, it will make its escape, but no bad consequences
will result from this loss ; on the contrary, the steam-
rim will in this case serve instead of a safety-valve.
And, although this contrivance may not be adequate
to the confining of strong steam, it certainly answers
perfectly well for confining that kind of steam which is
most proper to be used for cooking. It will likewise be
found useful in many cases for covering boilers, where
the principal object in view is to prevent the contact
of the cold air with the contents of the boiler. It will
be useful for the boilers of bleachers, as also for laun-
dry boilers, for brewers' boilers, and for all boilers
destined for the evaporation of liquids under a boiling
heat.

It appears to me that this contrivance might, with
a little alteration, be used with great advantage for
covering the boilers used by distillers. By making
the steam-rim deeper, the cover of the boiler would
be tight, under a considerable pressure ; and by mak-
ing the boiler broad and shallow, with several separate
fire-places under it (the flat bottom of the boiler being
supported on the tops of the flues of these fire-places),
a variety of important advantages would be gained, and
these would not be compensated by any disadvantages
that I can foresee. The boiler might be constructed
of very thin sheet copper, which would not only ren-
der it less expensive, but would also make it more
durable.

When steam-rims were first introduced, they were
made of the form represented in the following figure,
which represents a vertical section of part of one side

368 On the Construction of Kitchen

of a boiler with a steam-rim, covered with a conical
double cover made of tin : —

Fig. 41.

In this and the following figures, A, B, represents a
section of part of one side of the (double) cover of the
boiler; C, D, the • steam-rim and part of one side of
the boiler; E, the descending rim of the cover; and
F, G, the level of the water in the steam-rim, — all of
one half size.

This construction was found to be attended with an
inconvenience, which, indeed, might easily have been
foreseen. When the steam, on being confined, became
strong enough to force its way under the descending
rim, E, of the cover of the boiler, the water in the steam-
rim was frequently blown out of it with considerable
violence and dispersed about the room. To prevent
these disagreeable accidents, the form of the upper part
of the steam-rim was altered. To make a proper finish
to the boiler, the edge of its brim (which forms the top
of its steam-rim) had been turned outwards over a
strong wire. It was now turned inwards over the wire ;
and the outside or rising part of the steam-rim, instead
of being made sloping outwards, was now made vertical.

A complete idea of these different alterations, and of

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 369

the effects necessarily produced by them, may be formed
by comparing the foregoing figure (No. 41) with the
following : —

Fig. 42.

It is evident that in this case, as there is sufficient
room between the outside of the descending rim of the
cover and the vertical side of the steam-rim to contain
all the water that can be forced upwards between them
by the steam, there is little danger of any part of this
water being blown out of the steam-rim by the steam
when it makes its escape under the rim of the cover.

Of the Manner in which Kitchen Boikrs and Stewpans
may be constructed so as to be rendered useful in
cooking with Steam.

If a common kitchen boiler be furnished with a steam-
rim, and the descending rim of its cover be made to shut
down into it, the steam in the boiler will be effectually
confined, and may in various ways be usefully employed
in cooking. One of the simplest methods of doing this
is to set what I shall call a steam-dish upon the boiler.
The bottom of this steam-dish being furnished with a
descending rim or projection, fitting into the steam-
rim of the boiler, the steam-dish may be made to serve
as a cover to the boiler ; and, if a number of small holes

VOL. III. 24

370

On the Construction of Kitchen

be made in the bottom of this dish near its circumference,
the steam will pass up into it from below ; and, if it be
properly closed above, any victuals placed in it will be
cooked in steam.

If this dish be furnished with a steam-rim of the same
form and size with that of the boiler, the cover of the
boiler will then serve for covering the steam-dish, when-
ever that dish is in use.

The. following figure, which represents a vertical sec-
tion of the apparatus, will show this contrivance in a
clear and distinct manner : —

Fig. 43-

A is the boiler, which is seen set in brick-work ; B
is the steam-dish ; and C is the cover of the boiler,
which is here made to serve as a cover for the steam-
dish.

The sides of the steam-dish (which is made of tin)
are double, for the purpose of confining the heat more
effectually.

If it be required to cook several kinds of food at the
same time, a steam-dish may be used that is divided
into several compartments ; or two or more steam-dishes

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 371

may be placed one above another over the same boiler,
that which is uppermost being covered with the cover
of the boiler.

A very complete apparatus of this kind may be seen
in the kitchen of Mr. Summers, of New Bond Street,
ironmonger, who makes and sells these articles, and
who has sold no less than 225 sets of these family
boilers, as they are called, since he first began to manu-
facture them ; and Mr. Feetham, of Oxford Street, has
sold no sets of them. A cooking apparatus of this
kind may likewise be seen at the Royal Institution;
and at Heriot's Hospital, at Edinburgh; and in the
houses of many private families in England and Scot-
land. There are several tradesmen who now manu-
facture them ; and all persons desirous of making and
selling them are at full liberty to do so.

When different kinds of food, placed one above the
other, are cooked in steam, the drippings of those above
might, in some cases, be apt to spoil those below if
means were not used to prevent it. This inconven-
ience may be avoided in the apparatus I am describing
by introducing the food into the steam-dishes, placed
in deep plates or in shallow basins, sufficiently capa-
cious, however, to contain as much water as will be
generated in consequence of the condensation of the
steam on the surface of the food in heating it boiling-
hot. I say " in heating it boiling-hot ; " for, after it is
once heated to that temperature, no more steam will
be condensed upon it, however long the process of
cooking may be continued.*

* It is not difficult to determine with great precision what the size or con-
tents of the dish must be, in order that it may contain all the water that can
possibly be produced by the condensation of the steam, in heating the victuals

372 On the Construction of Kitchen

This is a curious circumstance, and the knowledge
of the fact may be turned to a good account. If, for
instance, it were required to make the strongest extract
of the pure juices of any kind of meat, unmixed with
water, this may be done by heating the meat nearly
boiling-hot, either in boiling water or in steam, and
then putting it, placed in a shallow dish, into a steam-
dish, or into any closed vessel filled with hot steam,
and leaving it in this situation two or three hours, or
for a longer time. Whatever liquid is found collected
in the dish at the end of the process must necessarily
be the purest juices of the meat. In this manner the
richest gravies may no doubt be prepared.

that are cooked in it to the temperature of boiling water. Suppose, for in-
stance, that a piece of beef weighing six pounds is to be cooked in the steam-
dish, and that this meat, when it is put into the dish, is at the temperature of
55° of Fahrenheit's thermometer, which is the mean annual temperature of the
atmosphere at London. Now as this piece of meat is to be made boiling-hot,
its temperature must be raised 157 degrees, namely, from 55° to 212°. But we
have seen that any given quantity, by weight, of beef, requires less heat to heat
it any given number of degrees, than an equal weight of water, in the proportion
of 74 to 100 (see the introduction to this Essay, page 183) ; consequently these
6 Ibs. of beef will be heated 1 57 degrees, or from 55° to the boiling point, with a
quantity of heat which would be required to heat 4 Ibs. 7 oz. of water 157 degrees.

Now if we suppose, with Mr. Watt, that the steam which produces, in its
condensation, I Ib. of water gives off as much heat as would raise the temper-
ature of s£ Ibs. of water 180 degrees, namely, from the point of freezing to that
of boiling water, the same quantity of heat must be sufficient to raise the tem-
perature of 6 Ibs. 5 oz. of water 157 degrees, or from 55° to 212°.

And if 6 Ibs. 5 oz. of water require i Ib. of condensed steam to heat it 157
degrees, 4 Ibs. 7 oz. of water, or 6 Ibs. of beef, will require only nj oz. of con-
densed steam to raise its temperature the same number of degrees, for it is 6 Ibs.
5 oz. is to i Ib. as 4 Ibs. 7 oz. to nj oz.

Consequently, if 6 Ibs. of beef at the temperature of 55° were placed in a
steam apparatus, in a shallow dish capable of containing 1 1 J oz., or a little less
than three quarters of a pint, this dish would contain all the water that could
possibly result from the condensation of steam on the surface of the meat, in
heating it boiling-hot.

This computation may be of some use in determining the dimensions of the
vessels proper to be used for holding the victuals that are cooked in the steam-
dishes above described.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 373

Thick steaks or cutlets of beef, boiled in this man-
ner, and made perfectly tender throughout, and then
broiled on a gridiron, and served up in their own
gravy, with or without additions, would, I imagine, be
an excellent dish, and very wholesome. But it must be
left to cooks and to professed judges of good eating
to determine whether these hints (which are thrown
out with all becoming humility and deference) are
deserving of attention. For, although I have written
a whole chapter on the pleasure of eating, I must
acknowledge, what all my acquaintances will certify,
that few persons are less attached to the pleasures of
the table than myself. If, in treating the subject, I
sometimes appear to do it con amore, this warmth of
expression ought, in justice, to be ascribed solely to
the sense I entertain of its infinite importance to the
health, happiness, and innocent enjoyments of man-
kind.

CHAPTER IX.

Description of a UNIVERSAL KITCHEN BOILER, for the
Use of a small Family, to answer all the Purposes
of Cookery ; and also for boiling Water for Washing,
etc. — Description of a PORTABLE FIRE-PLACE for a
universal Kitchen Boiler. — Account of a Contriv-
ance for warming a Room by Means of this Fire-
place and Boiler. — Of STEAM STOVES for warming
Rooms. — They are probably the best Contrivance
for that Purpose that can be made Use of, —
they warm the Air without spoiling it, they econo-
mize Fuel, and may be made very ornamental.

374

On the Construction of Kitchen

Description of a UNIVERSAL KITCHEN BOILER for the
Use of small Families, to answer all the Purposes of
Cdokery ; and also for boiling Water for Washing, etc.

THE following figure represents a vertical section
of this boiler, and also of its fire-place and cover.
This boiler is supposed to be made of cast iron, and
its section is represented by a double line. The lower

part of it, which is represented as being filled about
half full with water, is 12 inches in diameter above,
about 1 1 inches in diameter below, and 9} inches deep.
The upper part of it, which is furnished with a steam-
rim, is 24 inches in diameter1 above — where its steam-
rim begins — and 23 inches in diameter below — where
it joins the flat part which unites it to the lower part
of the boiler.

The lower part of this boiler (which might, without
any impropriety, be called the lower boiler] is destined
for containing the soup or the water that is made to
boil, while the upper and broader part is used for boil-
ing with steam. The brim of the lower boiler projects
upward, about an inch above the level of the flat bot-

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 375

torn of the upper boiler. This projection prevents the
water resulting from the condensation of steam against
the sides of the upper boiler from descending into the
lower boiler. The upper boiler is 8| inches deep, from
the top of the inside of its steam-rim to the flat part
of its bottom. The whole depth of both boilers is 18
inches, from the top of the steam-rim to the lower
boiler.

A circular piece of tin, about 22 inches in diameter,
with many holes through it to give a free passage to
the steam, being laid down in a horizontal position
upon the top or projecting brim of the lower boiler,
upon this circular plate the shallow dishes are placed,
which contain the victuals that are to be cooked in
steam. Two such dishes are faintly represented in the
foregoing figure by dotted lines.

The cover of this universal boiler is a shallow circu-
lar dish, 26 inches in diameter at its brim, and about
1 2 inches deep, turned upside down, and covered above
with a circular covering of wood to confine the heat.
The handle to this cover is a strong cleat of wood, fas-
tened to the circular wooden cover by means of four
wood screws. This handle is distinctly represented in
the figure.

The circular wooden cover for confining the heat
must be constructed in panels, and must be fastened
to the shallow metallic dish by means of rivets or wood
screws. In doing this, all the precautions must be taken
that are pointed out in the fifth chapter of this Essay,
page 289; otherwise the wood and the metal will be
separated from each other, in consequence of the
shrinking of the wood on its being exposed to heat.

The inverted shallow dish, which, properly speaking,

376

On the Construction of Kitchen

constitutes the cover of this boiler, may be made either
of tin or of sheet iron or of sheet copper ; or it may be
made of cast iron. Whatever the material is of which
it is constructed, care must be taken to make it of such
dimensions precisely that its brim may enter the steam-
rim, and occupy the lower or deepest part of it, other-
wise the steam will not be properly confined in the
boiler.

The following figure represents a vertical section, of
one half size, of the steam-rim of one of these boilers
(of cast iron), together with a section of a part of an
inverted shallow cast iron pan, which serves as a cover
to the boiler, and also of the circular covering of wood
which is attached to the pan, and defends it from the
cold air of the atmosphere.

Fig- 45-

In this figure the steam-rim is represented as being
full of water, and one of the screws is seen which fasten
the circular wooden cover to the inverted shallow pan
which confines the steam in the boiler.

On examining the two preceding figures, it will be

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 377

found that both the boiler and its cover are of forms
that will readily deliver from their moulds; and that
circumstance will enable iron-founders to sell these
articles at low prices.

The mass of brick-work in which this boiler is set
may be a cube of 3 feet ; or, by sinking the ash-pit in
the ground, its height may be reduced to z\ feet.

In order that the flame may be made to separate and
spread equally on all sides under the lower boiler, the
smoke should be made to pass off in two small canals
situated on opposite sides of the boiler. The openings
of these canals may be a little below the level of the
bottom of what has been called the upper boiler ; and
the smoke, being made first to descend nearly to the
level of the bottom of the lower boiler, may then pass
off horizontally towards the chimney. The situation
of the two horizontal canals (on opposite sides of the
boiler) by which the smoke goes off is indicated (in
Fig. 44) by dotted lines.

So much has already been said in the foregoing
chapters relative to the construction of closed fire-
places for kitchen boilers, that it would be quite super-
fluous to give any particular directions respecting the
construction of the fire-place for this boiler. The man-
ner in which the boiler is set in brick-work, and the
means that are used for causing the smoke to surround
it on every side, are distinctly shown in the figure.

In order more effectually to confine the heat, the
boiler should be entirely enclosed in the brick-work on
every side, in such a manner that the brim of its steam-
rim should not project above it more than half an inch.
To preserve the brick-work from being wetted, the top
of it may be covered with sheet lead, which may be

378 On the Construction of Kitchen

made to turn over the top of the brim of the steam-rim
of the boiler.

There may either be a steam-tube in the cover of the
boiler, or the steam may be permitted to force its way
under the descending rim of the inverted shallow pan
which constitutes the cover. If there be a steam-tube,
it should be half an inch in diameter and about one
inch in length ; and it should be made very smooth on
the inside, in order that another tube of tin or of tinned
copper, about 10 inches in length, may pass freely in it.
The use of this movable tube is to cause the air to
be expelled from the upper boiler, while it is used for
cooking with steam. This will be done if, while the
water below is boiling, the long tube be thrust down
into the boiler through the steam-tube till its lower end
comes to the level of the brim of the lower boiler. For,
as steam is considerably lighter than common air, it will
of course rise up and occupy the upper part of the upper
boiler, and the air below it being compressed will escape
through the tube we have just described ; and, although
that tube should remain open, the upper boiler will
nevertheless remain filled with steam, to the total exclu-
sion of atmospheric air. The inside of the steam-tube
and the outside of the movable tube should be made to
fit each other with accuracy, in order that no steam may
escape between them. The necessity of this precaution
is too evident to require any elucidation.

It will be best to place the steam-tube within about
an inch of the side of the cover, in which case it will
be easy, by turning the cover about, to place it in such
a position that the movable tube may descend into the
upper boiler without being stopped by meeting with
any of the dishes that are placed in it.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils.

379

It is hardly necessary that I should observe here that
boilers on the principles above described may be con-
structed of sheet iron or sheet copper as well as of cast
iron, and that they may be made of any dimensions.
That which is represented in the foregoing figure (No.
44) is of a moderate size, and would, I should imagine,
be suitable for the family of a labourer consisting of
eight or ten persons. The lower part of the boiler
would hold about ^ gallons; but the whole boiler,
filled up to within an inch of the level of the inside of
the steam-rim, would hold 14^ gallons. When so filled
up, I should suppose the boiler to be sufficiently capa-
cious to heat water for washing or for any other pur-
pose that could be wanted by an industrious family con-
sisting of the number of persons above-mentioned.

Description of a PORTABLE FIRE-PLACE for a UNIVERSAL

KITCHEN BOILER.

The following figure represents a vertical section of
the fire-place with its boiler in its place : —

Fig. 46.-

This figure is drawn to a scale of 20 inches to the
inch.

380 On the Construction of Kitchen

The boiler is supposed to be of cast iron, and the
section of it is represented by a double line. To render
its form more conspicuous, its cover is omitted.

The portable fire-place is a cylinder of sheet iron, 24!
inches in diameter, and 34i in height, open above and
closed below. The sections of this cylinder and of its
bottom are marked by strong black lines.

The fire-place, properly so called, is the centre or axis
of this cylinder. It is built of fire-bricks and Stourbridge
clay, and the fire burns on a circular cast iron dishing-
grate, 8 inches in diameter.

The opening (at a) by which the fuel is introduced
is marked by dotted lines, as is also another opening
below it (at b) which leads to the ash-pit. These open-
ings are closed by doors of sheet iron, which are attached
by hinges to the outside of the cylinder, and fastened
by means of turn-buckles.

The door of the ash-pit is furnished with a register
for regulating the admission of air.

The smoke is carried off by a horizontal tube, a part
of which is seen at C.

There is a particular and very simple contrivance for
causing the smoke to come into contact with the sides
of the lower boiler and with the flat bottom of the upper
boiler, and then to descend before it is permitted to
pass off. This is a cylinder of cast iron or of earthen-
ware, which is 1 6 inches in diameter within or in the
clear, and 8 inches high, with a thin flange about an
inch wide at its lower extremity. This flange serves
as a foot for keeping it steady in its vertical position,
and also for fastening it in its place by laying the ends
of a circular row of short pieces of brick upon it. The
lower end of this cylinder being set down at the level

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 381

of the bottom of the lower boiler, upon the top of the
hollow cylindrical mass of brick-work which constitutes
the fire-place, the smoke is obliged to pass up between
the inside of this cylinder and the outside of the lower
boiler and to strike against the flat bottom of the upper
boiler. It then passes horizontally over the top of this
cylinder, and, turning downwards into the space which
is left for it between the outside of this short cylinder
and the great cylinder of sheet iron in which the boiler
is suspended, it passes off by the small horizontal tube
which carries it to the chimney.

This short cylinder is so distinctly represented in the
figure that letters of reference are quite unnecessary.

A piece of brick or of fire-stone, about 2% inches
thick, is supposed to be attached to the inside of the
fire-place door, to prevent its being too much heated
by the fire ; and this is represented in the figure by
dotted lines. The knobs in the fire-place door and in
the door of the ash-pit are designed to be used as a
handle in opening them.

This portable fire-place may have two strong handles
for transporting it from place to place; and, as the
boiler may be removed and carried separately, the fire-
place will not be too heavy to be carried very conven-
iently by two men.

Without stopping to expatiate on the usefulness of
this new implement of cookery, I shall proceed to show
how its utility may be made still more extensive. With
a trifling additional expense it may be changed into
one of the very best stoves for warming a room in cold
weather that can be contrived. I say one of the very
best, for it will warm the air of the room without its
being possible for it ever to heat it so much as to make

382 On the Construction of Kitchen

it unwholesome ; and it will do it with the least trouble
and at the expense of the least possible quantity of
fuel.

Description of a Contrivance for warming a Room by
Means of a portable universal Kitchen Boiler.

The following figure represents an elevation, or
front view, of the machinery that may be used for this
purpose : —

This machinery is very simple. It consists of the
portable boiler and fire-place represented in the pre-
ceding figure (No. 46), with an inverted cylindrical
vessel, constructed of tin or of very thin sheet copper,
placed over the boiler. This cylindrical vessel, which I
shall call a steam-stove, must be just equal in diameter
to the steam-rim of the boiler at the lowest or deepest

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 383

part of that rim ; and it may be made higher or lower,
according to the size of the room that is to be heated
by it. That represented in the foregoing figure is
26 inches in diameter and 24 inches high, which gives
17 square feet of surface for heating the room.

This steam-stove may be made of common sheet iron ;
but in that case it should be japanned within and with-
out, to prevent its rusting. In japanning it, it might
be painted or gilded, and rendered very ornamental.
The portable fire-place might likewise be japanned and
ornamented ; but in that case it would be necessary to
line that part of it with clay or cement with which the
smoke comes into contact, otherwise the heat in that
part might injure the japan.

There must be a small tube about \ of an inch in
diameter in one side of the steam-stove, just above the
top of the steam-rim of the boiler. This tube should
be about 2 inches in length, and it should project in-
wards, horizontally, into the cavity of the steam-stove.
Into this tube one end of another longer tube should
be introduced, which is designed to carry off the redun-
dant steam into the chimney.

The reason why this tube should be placed near the
bottom of the steam-stove will be evident to those who
recollect that steam is lighter than air. Were it placed
at the top of it, no steam would remain in the stove, and
the object of the contrivance would be defeated.

This small steam-tube at the lower part of the stove
may, with safety, be kept quite open ; for, unless the
water in the boiler be made to boil with vehemence,
little or no steam will issue out of it; for the greater
part, if not the whole of it, will be condensed against
the top and sides of the steam-stove.

384 On the Construction of Kitchen

As the water which results from this condensation
of steam will all return into the boiler, it will seldom
be necessary to replenish the boiler with water.

When cooking is going on in the boiler in cold
weather, the steam-stove will supply the place of a
cover for the boiler ; but, when the weather is warm,
the cover of the boiler may be used instead of it, and
the air of the room will be very little heated.

Steam-stoves on these principles would be found
very useful in heating halls and passages, and I think
they might be used with advantage for heating elegant
apartments. They are susceptible of a variety of beau-
tiful forms, and are not liable to any objections that
I am aware of. A most elegant steam-stove might be
made in the form of a Doric temple, of eight or ten
columns, standing on a pedestal. The fire-place might
be situated in the pedestal, and the columns and dome
of the temple might be of brass or bronze, and made
hollow to admit the steam. In the centre of the temple
a small statue might be placed as an ornamental deco-
ration ; or an Argand's lamp might be placed there to
light the room. In case a lamp should be placed in the
centre of the temple, there should be a circular opening
left in the top of the dome for the passage of the smoke
of the lamp.

The fire under the boiler may be lighted and fed
without the room or within it ; or the steam may be
brought from a distance in a leaden pipe or copper
tube. If the boiler that supplies the steam is situated
in the pedestal of the temple, and if the fire is lighted
from within the room, the fire-place and ash-pit doors
may be masked by tablets and inscriptions.

But I need not enlarge on the means that may be

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 385

used for rendering a useful mechanical contrivance
ornamental and expensive ; for many persons will be
ready to lend their assistance in that undertaking.

Those who wish to see one of these universal kitchen
boilers will find one set in brick-work in the kitchen of
the Royal Institution. It is constructed of copper, and
tinned on the inside ; and it is considerably larger than
that I have here described. The method used for
confining the steam in this boiler is different from that
here recommended, and there is a contrivance for
heating the contents of the boiler occasionally by
means of steam, which is brought from another boiler ;
but this contrivance has no particular connection with
the invention in question, and is introduced here merely
to show how steam may be employed for making liquids
boil.

In order that these universal kitchen boilers, with
steam-stoves, may the more easily find their way into
common use in this country, some method should be
contrived for making tea in them. Now I think this
might be done by putting the tea with cold water into
a shallow tin tea-pot, or rather kettle, and placing it in
the upper boiler, directly over the lower boiler. I once
made an experiment of this kind; and, if I was not
much mistaken, the tea that was so made was uncom-
monly good and high-flavoured. It certainly appeared
to be considerably stronger than it would have been,
if, with the same quantities of tea and of water, it had
been made in the common way.

Boiling water poured upon a vegetable substance does
not always extract from it all that might be extracted by
putting the substance to cold water and heating them
together. This fact is well known; and it renders it

VOL. III. 25

386 On the Construction of Kitchen

probable that the method here proposed of making tea
would be advantageous. If this should be the case, no
implement could be better contrived for that purpose
than our universal kitchen boiler.

CHAPTER X.

Description of a new-invented REGISTER-STOVE or FUR-
NACE for heating Kitchen Boilers, Stewpans, etc.

— Of the Construction of Boilers and Stewpans
peculiarly adapted to those Stoves. — Particular
Method of constructing Stewpans and Saucepans
of Tin, by which they may be rendered very durable.

— Description of a small PORTABLE FIRE-PLACE for
Stewpans and Saucepans. — Of cast-iron HEATERS

for heating Kitchen Utensils.

HAVING learned, by frequenting kitchens while the
various processes of cookery were going on in
them, how very desirable it would be that the cook
might be enabled to regulate and occasionally to mod-
erate the fires by which stewpans and saucepans are
heated, I set about contriving a fire-place for that pur-
pose, which on trial was found to answer very well.
The first fire-place of this kind that was constructed
was put up in my own kitchen, at Munich, where it
was in daily use for more than twelve months; and
soon after I returned to this country (in the year 1 798)
one of them was put up in the kitchen of Mr. Sum-
mers, ironmonger, No. 98 New Bond Street, where it

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils.

387

has been exhibited to the view of those who frequent
his shop. Since that time a great number of them
have been put up in the kitchens of private families,
and, as I am informed, are much liked. As their use-
fulness appears to me to have been sufficiently ascer-
tained by experience to authorize me to recommend
them to the public, I shall now lay before the reader the
most exact and particular description of them that I can
give ; premising, however, that it will be difficult to give
so clear an account of this contrivance as to enable
a person to form a perfect idea of it without having
seen it.

I shall perhaps be most likely to succeed in this
attempt, if I begin by exhibiting a view of the thing
to be described.

Fig. 48.

This plate represents a view of a register-stove fire-
place for two stewpans, actually existing in Heriot's
Hospital, at Edinburgh. It is placed in a mass of
brick-work, 2 feet 6 inches high, 4 feet 6 inches long,

388 .On the Construction of Kitchen

and 2 feet wide from front to back, situated in a corner
of the room on the right-hand side of the fire-place.
In the middle of the front of this mass of brick-work
are seen the front of the fire-place door (which is
double), and the ash-pit register-door; and near the
end of it, on the left, in the upper front corner, may
be discovered the stone stopper, which closes a canal,
which is occasionally opened for cleaning out the soot
from the flues in the interior parts of the mass of brick-
work. A like stopper, and which serves for a like pur-
pose, may be seen at the end of the mass of brick-work,
near the right-hand corner above. Each of these
stoppers is furnished with an iron ring, fastened by a
staple, which serves as a handle in removing and
replacing it.

On the top of this mass of brick-work there is laid
a horizontal plate of cast iron, 18 inches wide, 3 feet
long, and about \ of an inch in thickness ; and on the
right and left of this iron plate, and level with its upper
surface, there are placed two flat stones, each 9 inches
wide and 18 inches long, being just as long as the
iron plate is wide.

At the back of this iron plate runs a flue, 4 inches
wide and 5 inches deep, which is covered above, at the
level of the upper surface of the iron plate, with a flat
stone, 6 inches wide.

One of the most essential parts of this contrivance is
the iron plate, with its circular register, both which are
represented by the following figure ; but only one half
of the plate is represented, being shown broken off in
the middle.

In this figure the circular movable register (wrhich is
distinguished from the oblong plate to which it belongs

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 389

by marking the latter by fine horizontal lines) is shown
in its place ; and the projecting piece of metal is also
seen which serves as a handle to turn it about on its
centre. This circular register has a shallow circular
groove near its circumference, about \ an inch deep and

Fig. 49.

i \ inches wide ; and between the inside of this groove
and the centre of the register there are two holes or
openings on opposite sides of the centre which answer
to two other openings of like form and dimensions,
which are in each half of the oblong plate to which the
registers belong. By one of these openings (that next
the middle of the oblong plate) flame rises from a fire
situated below, and spreads under the bottom of a boiler
which is suspended over the circular register ; and by
the other it descends, and, again entering the mass of
brick-work, it goes off by a horizontal canal which com-
municates with the chimney.

The boiler or stewpan is suspended over the cir-
cular register-plate, and the heat is confined about it by
means of a hollow cylinder of sheet iron or of earthen-
ware (about one inch longer or higher than the boiler
is deep), and open at both ends, the lower end of which,

390 On the Construction of Kitchen

entering the shallow groove of the register, reposes on
it, while its upper end is closed by the boiler which,
resting on it by its brim, is suspended in it, and conse-
quently is surrounded by the flame.

This cylinder must be made quite flat or even at its
two ends by grinding it on a flat stone, and the boiler
must be made to fit it accurately, not however by fitting
too nicely into its opening (which method would not
be advisable), but by making the under part of the iron
ring which forms the projecting brim of the boiler per-
fectly flat, and causing the boiler to be suspended by that
ring on the flat' end of the cylinder.

To prevent the escape of the flame under the bot-
tom of the cylinder or between its lower end and
the circular register-plate on which it stands, a small
quantity of sand or (what will be still better) of fine
filings of iron or brass may be put into the groove in
which the cylinder is placed ; and the same means
may be used for making the joinings tight between
the circular registers and the flat plate to which they
belong.

The following figure, which .shows a vertical section
of this register-stove with its fire-place and its two
boilers, or rather stewpans, will give a clear idea of
the arrangement of the machinery.

These stewpans, which are lo-J- inches in diameter
above and 6 inches deep each, are constructed accord-
ing to the directions given in the seventh chapter of
this Essay. They are of copper, tinned, and are turned
over flat iron rings at their brims. Their handles are
not seen in this figure. Their covers, which are of
tin and made double, are on a peculiar construction.
They are so contrived that a small saucepan for melt-

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 391

ing butter or warming gravy may be placed upon them
and heated by the steam from their stewpans.

From a careful inspection of the three foregoing
figures, and a comparison of them with the short de-
scription that has been given of the various parts of
this machinery, it will, I fancy, be possible to form so
distinct an idea of this contrivance as to enable any
person conversant in matters of this kind to imitate

the invention, even without ever having seen the work
executed. The principles at least on which this con-
trivance is founded will be perfectly evident ; and, when
they are understood, ingenious men will find little dif-
ficulty in the application of them to practice. It is
indeed highly probable that simpler and better means
of applying them will be found than those I have
adopted, when the use of the contrivance shall become
more general. I am indeed aware of several alterations
of the machinery which I think would be improve-
ments; but, as I have not tried them, I dare not re*

392 On the Construction of Kitchen

commend them as I recommend things which I know
from experience to be useful.

I shall now proceed to give an account of several
precautions in the construction and use of these reg-
ister-stoves for boilers, which have been found to be
necessary and useful.

The circular registers are so constructed that, by
turning them round, they may be so placed as either
to close entirely the holes in the flat plate on which
they lie, or to leave them open more or less. Now,
as there is no passage by which the smoke can go
off from the fire-place into the chimney but through
these holes, care must be taken never to attempt to
kindle the fire when both these registers are closed,
and never to open one of them without having first
placed a hollow cylinder on it and a fit saucepan or
boiler in the cylinder, to close it above. It can hardly
be necessary that I should add that care must always be
taken to put water or some other liquid into the boiler
to prevent its being burned and spoiled by the heat.

The state of the register, in regard to its being more
or less open, cannot be seen when the boiler is in its
place, as the openings of the register are concealed by
it and by the cylinder in which it is suspended. But,
although the state of the register under these circum-
stances is not seen, it is nevertheless known ; and the
heat which depends on the dimensions of the opening
left for the passage of the flame may at any time be
regulated with the utmost certainty. By means of a
projecting pin or short stub, represented in the Fig. 49,
belonging to the lower (fixed) plate, and which is
cast with it, the movable circular register is stopped
in two different positions, in one of which the open-

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 393

ings for the flame are as wide as possible, and in the
other they are quite closed. When the handle by
which the circular plate is turned round is pulled as
far forward as possible towards the front of the brick-
work, the register is wide open. In this situation it
is represented in the Fig. 49. When it is pushed as
far backwards as possible, the register is closed ; and
its situation at any intermediate station of the handle
between these two limits of its motion will at any time
show the exact state of the register.

That the handles of the register plates may not in-
terfere with each other, they are placed on the sides
of their plates which are farthest from the fire ; con-
sequently they are as far from each other as possible.
The form of these handles is such that they never be-
come very hot, although they are of iron and of a piece
with their plates, being cast together. The cold air
of the atmosphere passing freely upward through a
conical hole (left in casting) in the centre of the knob
of the handle, the heat is carried off by this current
of air almost as fast as it arrives from the circular plate.

There is a circumstance to which it is absolutely
necessary to pay attention in setting the large flat irons
plate in the brick-work, otherwise the machinery will
be liable to be soon deranged by the effects of the ex-
pansion of the metal by heat. The bottom or under
side of this plate must be everywhere completely cov-
ered and defended from the action of the flame by
bricks or tiles. This is very easy to be done ; but at
the same time, as it requires some care and attention,
it is what workmen are very apt to neglect if they are
not well looked after. As this plate is very large, if
great care be not taken to prevent its being exposed

394

On the Construction of Kitchen

to the flame, it will soon be warped and thrown out
of its place. If, instead of casting this plate in one
piece, it be formed of two pieces, each 18 inches square,
the bad effects produced by the expansion of the metal
by heat will be greatly lessened, and this precaution
has- been taken in most of the register-stoves on these
principles that have been put up in London ; but by
an experiment lately made at Heriot's Hospital, at
Edinburgh, I have been convinced that the large plates
may be depended on if they are properly set. .

I have described the cylinder in which the stewpan
or boiler is suspended as being a separate thing. It
is right, however, that I should inform the reader that,
in almost all cases where register fire-places of this kind
have hitherto been .put up, this cylinder has been firmly
and inseparably united to the stewpan, so much so as
to make a part of it, the handle even being attached
to this cylinder instead of being joined immediately to
the stewpan. The following figure, which represents a
vertical section of one of these stewpans and its cylin-
der, will show how they have hitherto generally been
constructed : —

Fig. 51.

a, b, c, d, represents a vertical section of the cylinder,
which is \\\ inches in diameter and 8 inches high.
Into this cylinder, which is open at both ends, the

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 395

boiler or stewpan, a, e,f, d (which is distinguished by
dotted lines), is made to pass with so much difficulty as
to require a considerable force to bring it into its place,
and not to be in danger of being separated from it by
any accidental blow. The handle, g, is riveted to the
cylinder previously to its. being united to its stewpan.

It having been found that this cylinder was liable to
become very hot, and even to be destroyed by the heat
in a short time if care was not taken to keep the fire
low ; and it having likewise been found that the heat
that made its way upwards, between the outside of
the stewpan and the inside of the cylinder, frequently
heated the upper part of the stewpan so intensely hot
as to cause the victuals cooked in it to be burned to
the sides of the stewpan, especially when the stewpan
was almost empty, — with a view to remedy both these
evils, and at the same time to construct stewpans and
saucepans of large dimensions of common sheet tin
(tinned iron) which should be more durable, and supe-
rior in many respects to those of that material now
in common use, some alterations were made in this
utensil, which will be easily understood by the help of
the following figure : —

In order to prevent the flame from passing upwards
between the saucepan and its cylinder, and occupying

396 On the Construction of Kitchen

the vacant space, c, a, e, this space was enclosed by
means of a circular piece of sheet copper, c, e, / d,
with a large circular opening in its centre, of the
diameter e, f. This copper, being a little larger in
diameter than the cylinder, was firmly attached to it
all round by being turned over the same wire, which
strengthened and made a finish to the bottom of the
cylinder ; while the inside edge, e, f, of this circular
perforated sheet of copper, being raised upwards with
the hammer about an inch, as it is represented in the
figure, the saucepan is made of such a form that, on
being brought into its place, its bottom is forced down
upon the upper edge of this copper, by which means
the empty space between the saucepan and its cylinder
is closed up below .by the copper, and the flame pre-
vented from entering it. Sheet iron might have been
used instead of sheet copper for closing up this space ;
but copper was preferred to it on account of its not
being so liable as iron to be destroyed by the action of
the flame.

This contrivance was found to answer so well for
preventing the cylinder from being destroyed by heat,
that, when it was made of tinned sheet iron (commonly,
but improperly, called tin), the tin by which the surface
of the iron was covered was not melted by it ; and so
completely did it prevent the sides of the saucepan from
becoming too hot, that a quantity of fluid of any kind,
so small as barely to cover the bottom of the vessel,
might be boiled in it without the smallest danger of its
being burned to its sides.

Having found that the sides of the saucepan were so
effectually defended by this contrivance from intense
heat, it occurred to me that a saucepan of common tin

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 397

might perhaps be so constructed as, with this precaution
for the preservation of its sides, it might be made to last
a great while, which would not only save a considerable
expense for kitchen utensils, — tin being much cheaper
than copper, — but would also remove the apprehension
of being poisoned by any thing injurious to health
communicated to the food by the vessel in which it
is prepared, which those cannot help feeling who eat
victuals cooked in copper utensils, and who know the
deleterious qualities of that metal.

Concluding that if I could contrive to prevent the
seams or joinings of the tin in a saucepan or boiler
from ever coming into contact with the flame of the
fire, it could not fail to contribute greatly to the du-
rability of the utensil, I caused the saucepan repre-
sented in the foregoing figure to be made of that
material. The bottom of this saucepan, e, f, was
made dishing (instead of being flat, as the bottoms of
tin saucepans are commonly made) ; and, being joined
to the- body of the saucepan by a strong double seam,
the vacuities of the seam, both within and without,
were well filled up with solder.

Now as care was taken in adjusting the conical band
of copper, c, e,f, d, to the bottom of the saucepan, to
make its circular opening above, at e,f, something less
in diameter than the bottom of the saucepan at its ex-
treme breadth, or where it joins the sides or body of
the utensil, and also to cause the upper edge of this
copper actually to touch the bottom of the saucepan,
and even to press against it in every part of its circum-
ference, it is evident that the seam by which the body
of the saucepan and its dishing bottom were united
was completely covered by the copper, and defended

398 On the Construction of Kitchen

from the immediate action of the fire. It is likewise
evident that the side-seams in the body of the sauce-
pan were likewise protected most effectually from all
the destructive effects of intense heat; and, if care
were taken to cover the outside of the body of the
saucepan with a good thick coating of japan to pre-
vent its being injured by rust, there is little doubt but
that saucepans so constructed would last a long time
indeed.

The cylinder in which the saucepan is suspended
might likewise be japanned, both within and with-
out, which would not only preserve it from rust, but
would also give it a very neat appearance. All these
improvements have been made, and a variety of sauce-
pans constructed on the principles here recommended
may be seen in the Repository of the Royal Institu-
tion.

Of the Means that may be employed for using indiffer-
ently Saucepans and Boilers of different Sizes, with
the same Register-Stove Fire-place.

Although the diameter below of the cylinder or
cone (for it may be either the one or the other) in
which the saucepan or boiler is suspended is limited
by the diameter of the groove of the circular register-
plate in which it stands over the fire, yet the sizes of
the cooking utensils used with them may be greatly
varied. They may, without the smallest inconvenience,
be made either broader or narrower above at their
brims than the bottom of the cylinder or cone in which
they are suspended ; and, with any given breadth above,
their depths (and consequently their capacities) may be
varied almost at pleasure. When, however, the diame-

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils.

399

ter of one of these boilers, at its brim, is greater than
the diameter of the groove of the register-plate of the
fire-place, it must be suspended in an inverted hollow
cone, and its body must necessarily be made conical.

The following figure shows how a boiler 1 5 inches
in diameter, with a steam-rim (with which the steam-
dishes of a 15-inch family boiler may occasionally be
used), may be adapted to a register-stove fire-place of
the usual dimensions: —

Fig- 53-

This boiler requires no handle, as its steam-rim may
be used instead of a handle in moving it from place to
place.

The following figure shows how very small sauce-
pans are to be fitted up, in order to their being used
with these register-stove fire-places : —

Fig- 54-

400 On the Construction of Kitchen

This saucepan is only 6 inches in diameter at its
brim, and 3 inches deep. The hollow cone in which it
is suspended is about 6 inches in diameter above, io|
inches in diameter below, and 4 inches in height.

In kitchens of a moderate size it will seldom be con-
venient to devote more space for stoves for stewpans
and saucepans than would be necessary for erecting
one register stewing-stove fire-place, which, if the fire-
place has only two registers, will heat only two stew-
pans or boilers at the same time ; but in cooking for a
large family it will frequently be necessary to have
culinary processes going on at the same time in several
stewpans and saucepans. It remains therefore to show
how this may be done with the apparatus and utensils
just described ; and' it is certain that this object is so
important that any arrangement of culinary apparatus
would be essentially deficient and imperfect, which did
not afford the means of attaining it completely, and
without any kind of difficulty. There are two ways in
which it may be done with the utensils above described.
A stewpan or saucepan having been placed upon one
of the register-plates of the stove till its contents are
boiling-hot, it may be removed and placed over a very
small fire made with charcoal in a small portable fur-
nace resembling a common chafing-dish ; or it may be
set down upon a circular iron heater, made red-hot, and
placed in a bed of dry ashes in a shallow earthen pan.
By either of these methods a boiling heat may be kept
up for a long time in the stewpan ; and any common
process of boiling or stewing carried on in a very neat
and cleanly manner. It must however be remembered
that it is only with stewpans and boilers constructed on
the principles here recommended, and constantly kept

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 401

well covered with double covers to prevent the loss of
the heat, that the processes of boiling and stewing can
be carried on with very small portable furnaces and
with heaters ; but with these utensils, which are so well
calculated to confine the heat, it is almost incredible
how small a supply of heat will be sufficient, when the
contents of the vessel have previously been made boil-
ing-hot, to keep up that temperature, and carry on any
of the common processes of cookery.

In the following figure (Fig. 55) A represents a verti-
cal section of a stewpan, 1 1 inches wide at its brim and

Fig- 55-

6 inches deep, suspended in its cylinder and placed
upon a portable furnace, B, which is 7 inches in diam-
eter at its opening above, 1 1 inches in diameter below,
and 9 inches high. A small saucepan, C, for melting
butter, is placed on the cover of the stewpan, and is
heated by the steam from the stewpan.

VOL. III. 26

4O2 On the Construction of Kitchen

This small saucepan is suspended in a cylinder,
which serves for confining the steam about it which
rises from the stewing-stove.

The cover of this small saucepan is double, and,
instead of a handle, it is furnished with a kind of a
knob (d) formed of a hollow inverted cone of tin, which
occasionally serves as a foot for supporting the cover
when it is taken off from the saucepan and laid down
in an inverted position. This contrivance is designed
to prevent the inside of the cover from being exposed
to dirt when it is occasionally taken off and laid down.
The saucepan is furnished with a handle of the common
form (e\ which is represented in the figure. The handle
(/) of the stewpan is also shown, and that (g) of the
portable fire-place.-

The following figure is a perspective view of the
portable furnace without the stewpan: —

Fig. 56.

In this figure the three horizontal projecting arms
are distinctly seen, which serve to support the stewpan.
One of these arms, which is longer than the rest, serves
as a handle to the furnace.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils.

403

This little furnace, which is constructed principally
of sheet iron, is made double, that part of it which
contains the burning charcoal being cylindrical, or
nearly so, and being suspended in the axis of a hollow
cone, which forms the body of the furnace, and serves
as a covering for confining the heat.

The following figure, which represents a vertical sec-
tion of this furnace through its axis, will give a clear
idea of the manner in which it is constructed : —

• Fig. 57.

The air is introduced into the fire-place first through
a circular hole (represented in the Fig. 56), about i£
inches in diameter, situated in the side of the hollow
cone near its bottom ; and from thence it passes up
through a small dishing-grate of cast iron which lies at
the bottom of the hollow cylinder which contains the
burning fuel. At the upper end of this cylinder there
is a narrow rim about half an inch wide, turned out-
wards, by which the cylinder is suspended in its place ;
and a similar rim being turned inwards below serves as
a support for the dishing-grate.

When this fire-place is used, it will be proper to
place it on a flat stone or on a tile ; or, what will be
still better, to set it in a thin earthen dish.

The same earthen dishes which would be proper for

404

On the Construction of Kitchen

holding these portable fire-places would also answer
perfectly well for holding the cast-iron heaters that
may occasionally be used for finishing the processes
of cooking that have been begun in stewpans and
saucepans heated over the fire of a register-stove, or
otherwise made boiling-hot.

The following figure, which represents a vertical
section of a stewpan placed over a heater of the kind
here recommended, will give a perfect idea of this
arrangement : —

Fig. 58.

The heater is here represented as lying in a bed of
ashes, and there is likewise a thin layer of ashes seen
between the top of the heater and the bottom of the
stewpan. By the quantity of ashes suffered to remain
on the upper surface of the heater, the heat communi-
cated to the stewpan is to be moderated and regulated.

The heater is perforated in its centre by a hole of
a peculiar form, which serves for introducing an iron
hook, which is used in taking it from the fire and
placing it in the earthen dish.

The form of the hook, and the shape of the aperture
through which it passes in the heater, may be seen in
the following figure.

The circular excavation in the heater, on each side
of it, surrounding the hole (which is in the form of the

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 405

key-hole of a lock) by which the hook is introduced,
serves to give room for the hook (or key, as it might
be called) to be turned round when the heater is laid

Fig- 59-

upon or against a flat surface. As this excavation, as
well as the hole through which the key passes, may
be cast with the heater, this arrangement will cause
no additional expense.

CHAPTER XI.

Of the Use of PORTABLE FURNACES for culinary Pur-
poses. — Description of a portable Kitchen Furnace,
for Boilers, etc., on the common Construction. — De-
scription of a small portable Furnace of cast Iron
for heating Tea-kettles, Stewpans, etc. — Description
of another of sheet Iron, designed for the same Uses.
— Description of a portable Kitchen Furnace of
Earthen-ware. — An Account of a very simple Ap-
paratus for cooking used in China.

T N China and in several other countries, all, or nearly
•*• all, the fire-places used in cooking are portable, and
real advantages might certainly be derived in many

406 On the Construction of Kitchen

cases from the .use of portable kitchen fire-places in
this country. Convinced of the utility of this method
of cooking, I have taken considerable pains to inves-
tigate the subject experimentally, and to ascertain the
best forms for the furnaces and utensils necessary in
the practice of it.

Portable furnaces for cooking are of two distinct
kinds : the one has a fire-place door for introducing
the fuel, the other has none ; and either of these may
or may not be furnished with a tube for carrying off
the smoke into the air or into a neighbouring chimney.

When a portable kitchen furnace is constructed with-
out a fire-place door, as often as fuel is to be introduced
it will be necessary to remove the boiler, in order to
perform that operation. When the boiler is small, that
may easily be done ; and when the furnace stands out of
doors, or on the hearth within the draught of a chimney,
or when the fuel used produces little or no smoke, it
may be done without any considerable inconvenience.
But, if the boiler be large, it cannot be removed without
difficulty ; and when the furnace is placed within doors,
and the fuel used produces smoke or other noxious
vapours, the removing of the boiler, though it were but
for a moment, would be attended with very disagreeable
consequences.

Small portable furnaces without fire-place doors may
be used within doors, provided they be heated with char-
coal ; but it will in that case always be advisable to fur-
nish them with small tubes of sheet iron for carrying off
the unwholesome vapour of the charcoal into the chim-
ney. Without such tubes to carry off the smoke, they
would not, it is true, be more disagreeable or more
detrimental to health than the stoves now generally

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils.

407

used for burning charcoal in kitchens; but I should
be sorry to recommend an invention to which there
appear to me to be so great objections.

I have caused a considerable number of portable
kitchen furnaces, of both the kinds above-mentioned,
to be constructed; and I shall now give descriptions
of such of them as seem to answer best the purposes
for which they were designed. They may all be seen
at the Repository of the Royal Institution.

A very simple and useful portable kitchen furnace,
with its stewpan in its place, is represented by the
following figure: —

Fig. 60.

Ai \

This furnace is made of common sheet iron, and it
may be afforded at a very low price. It is composed
of a hollow cylinder, and two hollow truncated cones
of different sizes. The large cone, which is erect, is
closed at its base or lower end. The smaller is inverted,
and is open at both ends. This smaller cone is sus-
pended in the larger, by means of a rim about half an

408 On the Construction of Kitchen

inch wide, which projects outwards from its upper
(larger) end. A rim of equal width, projecting inwards
at its lower extremity, supports a circular grate, on
which the fuel burns. The cylinder, which is about
two inches less in diameter than the larger cone at its
base, and which rests upon the surface of that cone,
serves to support the boiler or saucepan. This cyl-
inder is firmly fixed to the cone on which it rests by
means of rivets, two of which are represented in the
figure. The upper end of this open cylinder is strength-
ened, and its circular form preserved, by means of a
strong iron wire, over which the sheet iron is turned.
There is a short horizontal tube (A) on one side of the
cylinder, which is destined for receiving a longer tube
which carries off the smoke. The air necessary for the
combustion of the fuel is admitted through a circular
hole (B), about i^ inches in diameter, in the side of
the larger cone near its bottom, and below the joining
of the cone with the cylinder which rests on it. This
hole for the admission of air should be furnished with
a register, by means of which the fire may be regulated.
The handle of the stewpan is omitted in this plate, as
is also that of the fire-place. This figure is drawn to
a scale of 8 inches to the inch.

The following figure (which is drawn to a scale of 12
inches to the inch) is a perspective view of one of these
portable furnaces without its stewpan.

A part of the handle of this furnace is seen on the
left hand ; and the short tube is seen on the right hand,
that receives another tube (a part of which only is
shown) by which the smoke passes off.

The stewpan represented in the Fig. 60 is supposed
to be made of copper, and to be constructed on the

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 409

principles recommended in the seventh chapter of this
(tenth) Essay. These portable furnaces are peculiarly
adapted to kitchen utensils constructed on those prin-
ciples, and also to boilers and stewpans with steam-
rims, which are not made double; but for double or

Fig. 61,

armed boilers, stewpans, etc., the furnace must be made
in a different manner. The simplest form for portable
furnaces adapted to armed boilers is that represented
by the Figs. 55, 56, and 57; but I shall now give an
account of a furnace of this sort constructed on differ-
ent and better principles.

The following figure represents a vertical section of
a small portable kitchen furnace of cast iron.

On examining this figure, it will be found that care
has been taken, in contriving this furnace, to divide it
in such a manner into parts, and to give to those parts
such forms as to render the whole of easy construction.
It consists of three principal parts ; namely, of the fire-
place, A, which is a hollow cylinder, or rather an
inverted hollow truncated cone, 7 inches in diameter
above measured internally, 4 inches long or high,

410 On the Construction of Kitchen

ending below with a hemispherical hollow bottom, 6
inches in diameter, perforated with many holes for the
admission of air.

Fig. 62.

'I

This fire-place is suspended in the axis of the furnace
by means of the projecting hollow ring, D, E> belonging
to the upper and principal piece, B, C, D, E, of the
furnace. At the upper part of this piece there is a
circular cavity, a, b, about i inch wide and a quarter
of an inch deep, which is destined to receive the lower
extremity of the hollow cylinder in which the boiler is
suspended. At L is a circular hole, i^ inches in diam-
eter, which receives the end of the tube by which the
smoke is carried to the chimney. A part of this tube,
which is of sheet iron, is represented in the figure. To
give it a more firm support in its place, there is a short
tube, m, n, of cast iron, which projects inwards into the
furnace about f of an inch. This short tube is cast with
a flange, and it is fastened to the inside of the piece
which constitutes the upper part of' the body of the
furnace by means of three or four rivets. Two of these
rivets are distinctly represented in the figure.

The lower part of the body of the furnace consists
of the piece, F, G, H, I, and it is fastened to the upper

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 411

part by means of rivets, two of which are seen at F and
at G. In one side of this lower part there is a circular
hole at K, about i£ inches in diameter, which serves
for the admission of air, and which is furnished with a
register-stopper. The bottom of this furnace, instead
of being made flat, is spherical, projecting upwards ;
which form was chosen in order to prevent as much as
possible the heat from the fire from being communicated
downward. This furnace will require no handle, as its
projecting brim will serve instead of one.

It will be observed that all the pieces of which this
furnace is composed are of such forms that the moulds
for casting them will readily deliver from the sand ;
and that circumstance will contribute greatly to the
lowness of the price at which this most useful article
of kitchen furniture may be afforded.

The perforated cast iron bowl, A, which constitutes
the fire-place, is not confined in its place, and its form
and its position are such that its expansion with heat
can do no injury to the outside of the furnace.

When the two pieces which form the body of the
furnace are fastened together, their joinings may be
made tight with cement.

A little fine sand should be put into the hollow rim,
a, b, of the furnace, in order that it may be perfectly
closed above by the lower end of the hollow cylinder
of its boiler ; and a little sand or ashes may be thrown
upon the bottom of the circular cavity, o, p, into which
the smoke descends before it goes off by the tube, L,
into the chimney. This last precaution will prevent
the air from making its way upwards from the ash-pit
directly into the cavity, o, /, occupied by the smoke,
without passing through the fire-place.

4 1 2 On the Construction of Kitchen

The register-stopper to the opening, K, into the ash-
pit, may be constructed on the same principle as that
of the blowpipe of a roaster. One of these stoppers is
represented on a large scale in the Fig. 17, at the end
of the second part of this (tenth) Essay ; or, what will
be still more simple and quite as good, the admission
of the air may be regulated by a register like that
represented in the preceding Fig. No. 61.

This portable kitchen furnace will answer a variety
of useful purposes ; and, if I am not much mistaken, it
will come into very general use. It is cheap and durable,
and not liable to be broken by accidents or put out of
order ; and it is equally well adapted for every kind of
fuel. No particular care or attention is required in the
management of it, and it is well calculated for confining
heat, and directing it.

As the fire-place belonging to this furnace is nearly
insulated, and as it contains but a small quantity of
matter to be heated, a fire is easily and expeditiously
kindled in it ; and the fuel burns in it under the
most favourable circumstance.

It will be found extremely useful for boiling a tea-
kettle, especially in summer, when a fire in the grate is
not wanted for other purposes ; and, when the tea-kettle
is constructed on the principles that will presently be
described, a very small quantity indeed of fuel will
suffice.

But the most important use to which these portable
furnaces can be applied is most undoubtedly for cooking
for poor families. I have hinted at the probable utility
of a contrivance of this kind in some of my former
publications ; but since that time I have had opportu-
nities of examining the subject more attentively, and

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 413

of ascertaining the fact by the test of actual experi-
ment.

As the subject strikes me as being of no small degree
of importance, I shall make no apology for enlarging
on it, and giving the most particular account of several
kinds of portable kitchen furnaces.

That just described (of cast iron) is, it is true, as per-
fect in all respects as I have been able to make it, and
will probably be found to be quite as economical and as
useful as any that I shall describe ; but cast iron is not
everywhere to be found, and, even where foundries are
established for casting it, moulds must be provided, and
these are expensive, and not easy to be had. As it is
probable that some persons may be desirous of being
provided with portable furnaces of this kind, who may
not have it in their power to procure them of cast iron,
I shall now show how they may be constructed (by any
common workman) of sheet iron, and also how they
may be made of earthen-ware.

Of small portable Kitchen Furnaces constructed of
sheet Iron.

The following figure represents a vertical section of
one of these furnaces, drawn to a scale of 6 inches to
the inch.

The construction of this furnace will be easily under-
stood from this figure. The circular hollow horizontal
rim, a, b, which I shall call the sand-rim, is 8^- inches
in diameter within, and 1 2 T% inches in diameter with-
out. Its width at its bottom, which is flat, is just
i inch. Its sides are sloping and of different heights :
that which is towards the centre of the furnace is \ of

414 On the Construction of Kitchen

an inch high, but the side which is outwards is J an
inch in height.

The sand-rim is confined and supported in its place
by being fastened, by means of rivets or otherwise, to
an inverted hollow truncated cone, c, d, e, f, which
forms the upper part of the body of the furnace. This
inverted cone, which is turned over a strong circular
iron wire at its upper edge, c, d, is 1 2^5- inches in diam-

eter above measured within the wire, and 5-^ inches
in height measured from c to e or from d to f, and is
9iV inches in diameter from e to /, where it is fastened
to the erect hollow truncated cone, g, k, i, k.

This last-mentioned erect cone, which is closed be-
low by a circular plate of sheet iron, forms the lower
part of the body of the furnace. It is 7 inches in diam-
eter above, 1 2 inches in diameter below, and its perpen-
dicular height is just 9 inches. Its sloping side, g, i,
measures about 9^0 inches.

The fire-place of this little portable furnace is an
inverted hollow truncated cone, g, h, /, m, which is
7 inches in diameter above, at g, h, and 5! inches in
diameter below, at /, m; and its length is 6£ inches,

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 415

measured from g to m. This conical fire-place has
a flat rim above, which is J an inch wide, and turned
outwards ; and another below of equal width which is
turned inwards. The first serves to suspend it in its
place, the second serves to support its circular grate
on which the fuel burns.

The air is admitted into the fire-place through a hole,
n, about i^ inches in diameter, in the side of the fur-
nace. This aperture must be furnished with a register
similar to that shown in the Fig. 61.

The provision for carrying off the smoke is similar
in all respects to that used in the portable furnace above
described, constructed of cast iron ; and it will easily
be understood, from a bare inspection of the Fig. 63,
without any farther explanation.

Having shown how this portable kitchen furnace
may be constructed of cast iron, and also how it may
be made of sheet iron, I shall now show how it may be
made partly of cast iron and partly of sheet iron. A fire-
place of cast iron, like that represented in the Fig. 62,
may be used in a furnace of sheet iron; but, when
this is done, the fire-place must be cast with a pro-
jecting rim above, in order that it may be suspended
in its place. The sand-rim may likewise be of cast
iron, and it may be fastened to the inverted hollow
cone, c, d, e, f, by rivets.

The short tube, /, which serves to support the tube
which carries off the smoke, may also be made of cast
iron, and it may be fastened to the outside of the fur-
nace by three rivets. As it may be made of such a
form that its mould will deliver from the sand, it will
cost less when made of cast iron than when made of
sheet iron ; and it will have another advantage, — its

4 1 6 On the Construction of Kitchen

form on the inside will be more regular, and it will be
better adapted on that account for receiving the end
of the tube, which it is designed to receive. Its length
need not exceed i inch or ij inches, and its internal
diameter may be about i \ inches at its projecting ex-
tremity, and something less at its other end, where it
joins the side of the furnace.

Of small portable Kitchen Furnaces constructed of
Earthen-wa re.

The following figure represents a furnace of this
kind (of earthen-ware) destined for heating boilers of
the same kind and of the same dimension as those
proper to be used with the two (iron) furnaces last
described : —

Fig. 64.

This figure represents a vertical section of the fur-
nace, drawn to a scale of 6 inches to the inch ; and it
gives an idea so clear and satisfactory of the form of
this furnace that a detailed description of it would be
superfluous.

The fire-place is distinct from the body of the fur-
nace, and its form and position are such that it cannot
crack and injure the body of the furnace by its expan-
sion with heat. It resembles very much the cast iron

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 417

fire-place just described, and the same principles reg-
ulated the contrivance of both of them. It should be
bound round with iron wire, in order to hold it together,
in case it should crack with the heat of the fire. Two
places for the wire, one near its brim and the other
lower down, are shown in the figure.

The aperture by which the air enters the ash-pit is
closed by a register-stopper, represented in the figure,
or a conical stopper of earthen-ware may be used for
that purpose.

If such earths are used in constructing these small
portable furnaces as are known to stand fire well, there
is no doubt but these furnaces may, with proper usage,
be made to last a great while ; and, for confining heat,
they are certainly preferable to all others.

The portable kitchen furnaces in China are all con-
structed of earthen-ware ; and no people ever carried
those inventions which are most generally useful in
common life to higher perfection than the Chinese.
They, and they only, of all the nations of whom we
have any authentic accounts, seem to have had a just
idea of the infinite importance of those improvements
which are calculated to promote the comforts of the
lowest classes of society.

What immortal glory might any European nation
obtain by following this wise example!

The emperor of China, the greatest monarch in the
world, who rules over one full third part of the inhab-
itants of this globe, condescends to hold the plough
himself one day in every year. This he does, no doubt,
to show to those whose example never can fail to influ-
ence the great bulk of mankind how important that art
is by means of which food is provided.

VOL. III. 27

41 8 On the Construction of Kitchen

Let those reflect seriously on this illustrious example
of provident and benevolent attention to the wants of
mankind who are disposed to consider the domestic
arrangements of the labouring classes as a subject too
low and vulgar for their notice.

If attention to the art by which food is provided be
not beneath the dignity of a great monarch, that art
by which food is prepared for use, and by which it may
be greatly economized, cannot possibly be unworthy of
the attention of those who take pleasure in promoting
the happiness of mankind.

As the implements used in China for cooking are
uncommonly simple, it may perhaps be amusing to the
reader to be made acquainted with them. They consist
of the two articles represented below : —

Fig. 65.

Fig. 66.

This Fig. 65, which is made of earthen-ware, is the
fire-place, which is set down on the ground. The
shallow pan, represented by the Fig. 66, is of cast iron,
and serves for every process of Chinese cookery. It is
cast very thin, and, if by any accident a hole is made in
it, their itinerant tinkers mend it by filling up the hole,

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 419

which they do with so much dexterity that scarcely a
mark is left behind.

When the dinner consists of several dishes, they are
all cooked in this pan, one after the other; and those
which are done first are kept warm till they are sent to
table.

I leave it to the ingenuity of Europeans to appreciate
these specimens of Chinese industry.

But to return from this digression to our portable
kitchen furnaces. Although these furnaces are pecul-
iarly adapted for heating boilers and stewpans that are
armed, yet boilers on the common construction, or such
as are not suspended in cylinders, may easily be used
with them. When this is to be done, a detached hollow
cylinder or cone must be used in the manner described
in the preceding chapter, and represented in the Fig. 50.
This cylinder or cone (which may be constructed either
of sheet iron, of cast iron, or of earthen-ware) must
be about an inch higher than the boiler is deep, with
which it is to be used ; and just so wide above as to
admit the boiler to be suspended in it by its circular
rim. Its diameter below must be such as to fit the sand-
rim, in which it must stand when it is used.

CHAPTER XII.

Of the Construction of TEA-KETTLES proper to be used
with Register-Stoves and portable Kitchen Fur-
naces. — These Utensils may be constructed of Tin,
and ornamented by Japanning and Gilding. — When

420 On the Construction of Kitchen

they are properly constructed and managed, they may
be heated over a small portable Furnace in a very
short Time, and with a surprisingly small Quantity
of Fuel. — Descriptions of four of these Tea-kettles of
different Forms and Sizes. — Description of several
very SIMPLE and CHEAP STEWPANS for portable Fur-
naces. — Description of a STEWPAN of EARTHEN-WARE
on an improved Construction. — This will probably
turn out to be a most useful Utensil for cooking with
portable Furnaces.

AS tea-kettles are so much used in this country,
and as they occasion so great a consumption of
fuel (a large fire being frequently made in a grate or
kitchen range, morning and evening, for the sole pur-
pose of heating a few pints of water to make tea), the
saving of this unnecessary trouble and expense is an
object deserving of attention. And in doing this it
will be possible to improve very essentially the forms of
tea-kettles in several respects, and at the same time to
render their external appearance more neat and cleanly.
If the forms I shall recommend should not happen
to please at first sight, it should be remembered that
utility, cleanliness, and wholesomeness are objects of
more importance in cases like that in question than
mere elegance of form ; and, after all, I am not sure
whether the forms I shall propose are not in reality
quite as elegant as those with which they will be com-
pared. They will, no doubt, at first sight appear
uncouth to many persons, but the eye will soon become
accustomed to them; and their superior cheapness,
cleanliness, and usefulness will in the end procure
them that preference which they deserve. They may,

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 421

no doubt, be constructed of the most elegant forms, on
the principles I shall recommend ; but I shall confine
my descriptions to such forms as are most simple, and
of the easiest and least expensive construction, leaving
it to those to beautify the article whose business and
interest it is to set off their goods to the best ad-
vantage.

The following figure represents a tea-kettle of the
simplest form, suited to a register kitchen stove, or to a
portable furnace such as has just been described : —

This tea-kettle is constructed of tin, and it may be
japanned on the outside to prevent its rusting, and to
give it an elegant and cleanly appearance. Its bottom,
which is 1 1 inches in diameter, is not flat, but it is raised
up about half an inch in the manner pointed out by a
dotted line. The body of this tea-kettle is of a conical
form, ending above in a cylinder, 3 inches in length
and 2 inches in diameter. The spout, which resembles
that of a coffee-pot, is situated at the top of this cyl-
inder ; and it has a flat cover, fastened by a hinge, which
prevents dust or soot from falling into it when it stands
on the hearth. When this tea-kettle is put over the
fire, it should not be filled higher than to the top of the
cone, or lower end of the cylinder, otherwise it will be

422 On the Construction of Kitchen

liable to boil over. The kettle so filled will contain 4
pints of water ; and, if it be heated over one of the small
portable furnaces described in the foregoing chapter, it
may be made to boil in about 10 minutes, with 6^ oz.
of dry wood, which, at the price at which wood is com-
monly sold in London, would cost f of a farthing.*

The tea-kettle represented by the following figure is
rather more complicated, but still its form is more sim-
ple, and more advantageous in several respects than
those which are in common use, and it is well adapted
for the fire-places we have recommended. It is drawn
to a scale of 6 inches to the inch.

Fig. 68.

This kettle has two handles, each of which is sup-
ported on the outside, or near the circumference of the
kettle, by a small vertical tube, f of an inch in diameter
and if inches in height. That on the left hand is
open, and forms a part of the spout ; but that on the
right hand is closed at both ends. The bottom of this
kettle, also the bottoms of those represented in the two
following figures, like that of the last (Fig. 67), is not
flat, but is raised up about half an inch above the level
of the lower part of the cylindrical sides of the kettle.

* One pint of water only being put into this tea-kettle, over a very small wood
fire, made in the portable furnace represented in the foregoing Fig. 63 (see
page 414), it was heated and made to boil in two minutes and a half.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 423

This kettle holds about 3 quarts of water, which can
be made to boil with the combustion of 9^ oz. of
wood.

The following kettle holds about i gallon, and may
be made to boil with f Ib. of wood, which would cost
just | of a farthing : —

Fig. 69.

The following kettle is not essentially different from
those two last described, except in the form of its handle.
It holds about 3 quarts.

Fig. 70.

The cylindrical opening of this kettle above, where
the water is introduced, is considerably wider than those
in the two foregoing figures. It was made wider because
it was necessary to make it lower, in order to make room
for the hand without raising the handle too high. When
this part of a tea-kettle is made very narrow, it must be
made high to afford room for the expansion of the water

424 On the Construction of Kitchen

with heat, and prevent the kettle from boiling over.
These kettles should never be rilled higher than to the
level of the lower part of this cylindrical space, otherwise
there will be danger of their boiling over.*

It will be observed that the cover of this tea-kettle
projects a little beyond the cylindrical opening to which
it belongs. This projection serves instead of a handle
in removing and replacing the cover. The cover of
a tea-kettle is usually furnished with a knob for that
purpose; but these knobs are in the way when the
kettle is lifted up by its handle, unless the handle be
made much higher than otherwise would be suffi-
cient.

It has, no doubt, already been remarked by the reader
that all the tea-kettle's here recommended are of forms
that are perfectly easy to be executed in tin. There are
several reasons which have induced me to give a decided
preference to that material for constructing culinary
utensils. It is not only wholesome, — which copper is
not, — but it is also very cheap, and easy to be procured
in all places, and it is easily worked. It is moreover light
and strong, and not liable to be injured by accidents ; and
if measures be taken to prevent the effects of rust it is
very durable.

The four tea-kettles represented in the four last
figures are all particularly designed to be used with
the portable furnaces described in the last chapter;
and for that purpose they are well calculated, although
they are not suspended in cylinders. They may like-
wise be used with the register kitchen stoves described

* I find, by experiments made since the above was written, that tea-kettles
of this kind should never be filled above two thirds full, otherwise they will be
very apt to boil over.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 425

in the tenth chapter of this Essay. As their bottoms
are raised up, and as their diameters are such that their
conical or vertical sides enter into and fit the sand-rims
of those furnaces and stoves, the heat is effectually
confined under them ; and their outsides, not being
exposed either to flame or to smoke, may be japanned,
and they may easily be kept so clean as to be fit to
be placed upon a table, over a lamp, or upon a heater
placed in a shallow dish of china or earthen-ware.
They are even capable of being elegantly ornamented
by gilding or painting, or both.

They are likewise well calculated for being heated
by a lamp ; and if an Argand's lamp be used for that
purpose they may be made to boil in a short time and
at a small expense. Placed on a handsome tripod on
a table, with an elegant Argand's lamp under it, one of
these kettles, handsomely ornamented by japanning and
gilding, would make no mean appearance, and would
cost much less than the commonest tea-urn that could
be bought.

But it is not solely for making tea that these kettles
will be found useful : they will answer perfectly well for
boiling water for many other purposes ; and, if portable
kitchen furnaces should come into use, boiling-hot water
will often be wanted for filling saucepans and stewpans ;
and no utensil can be better contrived for heating and
boiling water over a portable kitchen furnace than these
kettles.

In constructing them, care should be taken to fill
all their seams well with solder, which, by covering the
naked edges of the iron, will contribute more than any
thing to the prevention of rust and the durability of the
article; and they should likewise be well japanned on

426 On the Construction of Kitchen

the outside in every part except the bottom, which
should not be japanned.

The reason why I have not made these tin tea-
kettles double is this : Tea-kettles are commonly used
merely for making water boil, which, with the kettles
here recommended, can be done in a very short time,
consequently much heat cannot possibly be lost during
that process in consequence of the top and sides of the
kettle being exposed naked to the cold air of the atmos-
phere. Were these utensils designed for keeping water
boiling-hot a great length of time, the case would be very
different ; and then it might be well worth while to make
them double, in order more effectually to confine the
heat in them.

The saving of time in making them boil by making
them double would be very trifling indeed, for till the
water has become very hot there is but little loss of
heat through the sides and top of the kettle ; the com-
munication of heat being rapid in proportion as the
temperature of the hot body is high compared with
that of the colder body into which the heat passes.

If a tea-kettle filled with water at the temperature of
the atmosphere at the time, on being put over a fire, be
brought to boil in 10 minutes, it will, during that time,
have lost only half as much heat as it will lose in the
next 10 minutes, if it be kept boiling-hot during that
time.

All these kettles are of such forms as will render it
very easy to cover them, should it be thought advisable
to make them double ; and by covering them with plated
or gilt copper they may be made very elegant at a small
expense.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils.

427

Of the Construction of cheap Boilers and Stewpans to
be used with small portable Kitchen Furnaces.

The best boilers and stewpans that can be used with
these furnaces are undoubtedly those which were de-
scribed in the tenth chapter of this Essay ; but utensils
on a simpler construction may be made to answer very
well, and may perhaps be preferred by many on account
of their cheapness.

The following figure represents a vertical section of
a stewpan on a much more simple construction than
any of those already described : —

Fig. 71.

This stewpan (which is drawn to a scale of 6 inches
to the inch) being of a proper diameter below to fit the
sand-rim of the portable furnace, and its bottom being
raised up about half an inch in order to allow its vertical
sides to descend into that sand-rim, it is plain that it
may be used with the furnace in the same manner as
the tea-kettles just described are used with it. It may
likewise be used with the register-stoves described in
the tenth chapter of this Essay.

In order that this stewpan may the more easily be
kept clean, the joinings of its bottom and sides should
be well filled up on the inside with solder.

The following figure represents another and smaller

428 On the Construction of Kitchen

stewpan, constructed on the same principles with that
just described and designed for the same use: —

Fig. 72.

The diameter of this stewpan below is the same as
that of the last. This is necessary, in order that it may
fit the sand-rim of the same register-stove or portable
furnace ; but its diameter above is much less, and it is
also less deep, consequently its capacity is much smaller.
The cover of this stewpan is of wood lined with tin. It
is in all respects like that represented by the Fig. 35
(see Chapter VII. of this Essay, page 358). Both these
stewpans are supposed to be constructed of tin, but they
might be made of tinned copper. The handle of the
stewpan represented by the Fig. 71 is omitted.

The following figure represents a vertical section
of a double or armed stewpan on a very simple
construction : —

Fig. 73-

The stewpan (which is drawn to a scale of 6 inches
to the inch) is supposed to be made of tin, and it is sup-

Fire-places and KitcJten Utensils.

429

posed to be turned over a wire at its brim. The cylinder
by which it is surrounded is of sheet iron, and the stew-
pan and the cylinder are fastened together by the former
being driven into the latter with some degree of force,
and sticking in it above where they come into close
contact. The lower edge of the cylinder being turned
inwards forms a narrow rim on which the lower end
of the stewpan rests.

Of the Construction of Stewpans of EARTHEN-WARE
and PORCELAIN, to be used with Register-Stoves and
portable Kitchen Furnaces.

The following figure shows how, by means of a hoop
or cylinder of sheet iron, a stewpan or saucepan of
earthen-ware or of porcelain of a suitable form and size
may be fitted to be used with a register kitchen stove
or portable furnace : —

Fig. 74-

This figure is drawn to a scale of 9 inches to the
inch. The form of the lower part of the stewpan is
pointed out by a dotted line. The top and the bottom of
the cylinder of sheet iron are both turned over circular
iron wires. The handle of this stewpan is of iron, and
it is fixed to the cylinder by rivets. The stewpan is
firmly fastened to its metallic hoop or cylinder, first,
by making this cylinder of a proper size to fit it ; and,

43° On the Construction of Kitchen

secondly, by wedging it both above and below with
very thin wedges made of narrow pieces of sheet iron,
and by filling up the vacuities above and below with
good cement.

The cover of this stewpan, which is of earthen-ware
(or porcelain), is made of a peculiar form. It has a
kind of foot instead of a handle, which serves for sup-
porting it when it is taken off from the stewpan and
laid down in an inverted position. By means of this
simple contrivance it is rendered less liable to be dirtied
on the inside and of communicating dirt to the victuals.

If an earthen stewpan of the form represented in this
figure be made of good materials, — that is to say, of a
proper mixture of the different earths well worked, —
and if its bottom be made thin and of equal thickness in
every part of it that is exposed to the fire, there is little
doubt, I think, of its standing the heat of a register-
stove or of a small portable kitchen furnace; and, if
this should be the case, I should certainly never think
of recommending any other kitchen utensils in prefer-
ence to these.

It appears to me to be very probable that unglazed
Wedgewood's ware would be as good a material as
could be found for these stewpans. The intelligent
gentleman who directs Mr. Wedgewood's manufactory
caused several of them to be made after drawings which
I gave him, and those I found, upon trial, to answer
very well.

If it should be found that kitchen utensils, con-
structed and fitted up, or mounted, on the principles
here pointed out, should answer as well as there is
reason to expect, as nothing would be easier than to
make earthen boilers with steam-rims and to form

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 431

steam-dishes of earthen-ware to fit them, every utensil
for cooking, by boiling and stewing, might be con-
structed of that most cleanly, most elegant, and most
wholesome material, — earthen-ware.

I hesitated a long time before I resolved to publish
this last observation ; for, however anxious I am to
promote useful improvements, and especially such as
tend to the preservation of health and the increase of
rational enjoyments, it always gives me pain when I
recollect how impossible it is to introduce any thing
new, however useful it may be to society at large, with-
out occasioning a temporary loss or inconvenience to
some certain individuals, whose interest it is to preserve
the state of things actually existing.

It certainly requires some courage, and perhaps no
small share of enthusiasm, to stand forth the voluntary
champion of the public good ; but this is a melancholy
reflection, on which I never suffer my mind to dwell.
There is no saying what the consequences might be,
were we always to sit down before we engage in a
laudable undertaking and meditate profoundly upgn
all the dangers and difficulties that are inseparably
connected with it. The most ardent zeal might per-
haps be damped and the warmest benevolence dis-
couraged.

But the enterprising seldom regard dangers, and are
never dismayed by them ; and they consider difficulties
but to see how they are to be overcome. To them
activity alone is life, and their glorious reward the
consciousness of having done well. Their sleep is
sweet when the labours of the day are over ; and they
await with placid composure that rest which is to put a
final end to all their labours and to all their sufferings.

43 2 On the Construction of Kitchen

CHAPTER XIII.

Of cheap Kitchen Utensils for the Use of the Poor. —
The Condition of the lower Classes of Society cannot
be improved without the friendly Assistance of the
Rich. — They must be TAUGHT Economy, and they can-
not be instructed by Books, for they have not Leisure
to read. — Advice intended for their Good must be
addressed to their benevolent and more wealthy Neigh-
bours. — An Account of the Kitchen Utensils of the
poor itinerant Families that trade between Bavaria
and the Tyrol. — These Utensils were adopted by the
Bavarian Soldiers. — An Account of some Attempts
that were made to improve them. — Description of
a very simple closed Fire-place constructed with seven
loose Bricks. — How this Fire-place may be improved
by using three Bricks more, and a few Pebbles. —
Description of a very useful PORTABLE KITCHEN
BOILER of cast Iron, suitable for a small Family.
— An Account of a very simple Method of COOKING
WITH STEAM, on the Cover of this Boiler. — Descrip-
tion of a STEAM-DISH of Earthen-ware or of cast
Iron, to be used with this Boiler. — Description of
a Boiler still more simple in its Construction, proper
to be used with a small portable Kitchen Furnace. —
The cooking Apparatus here recommended for the
Use of the Poor may, with a small Addition, be
rendered serviceable for warming their Dwellings
in cold Weather.

\ M ON GST the great variety of enjoyments which
~ riches put within the reach of persons of fortune

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 433

and education, there is none more delightful than that
which results from doing good to those from whom no
return can be expected ; or none but gratitude, respect,
and attachment What exquisite pleasure then must
it afford to collect the scattered rays of useful science,
and direct them united to objects of general utility!
to throw them in a broad beam on the cold and dreary
habitations of the poor, spreading cheerfulness and
comfort all around !

Is it not possible to draw off the attention of the rich
from trifling and unprofitable amusements, and engage
them in pursuits in which their own happiness and
reputation and the public prosperity are so intimately
connected ? What a wonderful change in the state of
society might, in a short time, be affected by their
united efforts !

It is hardly possible for the condition of the lower
classes of society to be essentially improved without
that kind and friendly assistance which none can afford
them but the rich and the benevolent. They must be
taught, and who is there in whom they have confidence
that will take the trouble to instruct them? They
cannot learn from books, for they have not time to
read ; and, if they had, how few of them would be able
from a written description to comprehend what they
oueht to know ! If I write for their instruction, it is to

o

the rich that I must address myself ; and, if I am not
able to engage them to assist me, all my labours will be
in vain. But to proceed.

In contriving kitchen utensils for cottagers, two
objects must frequently be had in view, — viz., the cook-
ing of victuals and the warming of the habitation ; and
as these objects require very different mechanical

VOL. III. 28

434 On the Construction of Kitchen

arrangements, some address will be necessary in com-
bining them.

Another point to which the utmost attention must
be paid is to avoid all complicated and expensive
machinery. Instruments for general use should be
as simple as possible ; and such as are destined for the
use of those who must earn their daily bread by their
labour should be cheap, durable, and not liable to
accidents, or to be often in want of repairs.

As food is more indispensably necessary than a warm
room, and as the most common process of cookery is
boiling, I shall first show how that process may be per-
formed in the most economical manner possible, and
shall then point out the means that may be used for
rendering the kitchen fire useful in warming the room
in which cookery is carried on.

One of the cheapest utensils for cooking for a family
that ever was contrived is, I verily believe, that used by
the itinerant poor families that trade between Bavaria
and the Tyrol, bringing raisins, lemons, etc., from the
south side of the mountains (which they transport in
light carts drawn by themselves) and carrying back
earthen-ware.

As these poor people have no fixed abode, and never
stop at an inn or other public-house, but, like the gyp-
sies in this country, sleep in empty barns and under
the hedges by the road-side, they carry with them in
their cart all that they possess ; and among the rest the
whole of their kitchen furniture, which consists of one
single article, — a deep frying pan of hammered iron,
with a short iron handle.

In this they bake their cakes, boil their brown soup,
make their hasty pudding, stew their greens, fry their

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 435

meat, and in short perform every process of their
cookery ; and, when their victuals are done, their boiler
serves them for a dish, which, being placed on the
ground, the family sit round it, each individual capable
of feeding himself being provided with a wooden
spoon.

This is precisely the same kind of kitchen utensil as
that used by the Bavarian wood-cutters when they go
into the mountains to fell wood ; and it is likewise used
by many poor families in the Tyrol and in Bavaria.

These broad stewpans, with the addition of a tripod
of hammered iron, were adopted many years ago in
Bavaria, for the use of the soldiers in barracks; and
they still continue to be used by them. Some successful
attempts to improve them have, however, lately been
made, and it was the experiments which led to those
improvements that first induced me to turn my atten-
tion to this useful article of kitchen furniture.

Before I proceed any farther in my account of these
shallow pans, and of the improvements of which they
have been found to be capable, it may perhaps be
proper to give an account of the manner in which they
are constructed, and of the price at which they are
sold.

All those which are used in Bavaria come from the
Tyrol or from Styria, where there are considerable
manufactories of them ; and they are sold at Munich
by wholesale at 22 kreutzers (about i\d. sterling) the
pound, Bavarian weight, which is at the rate of 6d.
sterling per Ib. avoirdupois weight.

One of these pans of large dimensions, — namely, 1 8
inches in diameter above or at its brim, 15 inches in
diameter below, and 4 inches deep, — bought at an iron-

436 On the Construction of Kitchen

monger's shop at Munich, cost me three shillings
sterling.

In manufacturing these pans, five of them, one placed
within the other, are brought under the hammer at the
same time ; and, in being hammered out and brought
to their proper form and thickness, they are frequently
heated red-hot. When they come from the hammer,
they are carried to the lathe and are turned on the
inside, and made clean and bright, and their edges are
turned and made even. They are then packed up one
within the other, or in nests (as these parcels are called),
and are sold by weight.

The following figure represents one of these pans in
its most simple state, placed on three stones, over a
fire made with small sticks of wood on the ground in
the open air : —

Fig. 75-

The pan used by the Bavarian soldiers — which, as I
just observed, is placed on a tripod or trivet of iron —
is about 20 inches in diameter above, 16 inches in
diameter below, and 4! inches deep.

As a great part of the heat generated in the combus-
tion of the fuel that is burned under this pan escaped
by its sides, to prevent in some measure this loss, I
enclosed the pan in a circular hoop or cylinder of sheet
iron. The diameter of this hoop was just equal to the
diameter of the pan above or at its brim, and its height

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils.

437

or width was 6 inches, and the upper part of it was
fastened by rivets to the upper part or brim of the
pan. This alteration, and a double cover fitted to the
pan which prevented the heat from being carried off
by the cold air of the atmosphere from the broad sur-
face of the hot liquid in the pan, produced a saving of
considerably more than half the fuel, even when this
fuel — which was diy pine wood — was burned on the
hearth or on the ground in the open air, and no means
were used for confining the heat on either side. But
the saving was still greater when the fire was made in
a closed fire-place.

Fora pan of this kind of 14 or 15 inches in diameter
at its brim, a very good temporary fire-place may be con-
structed in a moment, and almost without either trouble
or expense, merely with seven common bricks. Six of
them, laid down upon the hearth in pairs one upon the
other in the manner represented in the following figure,

form the fire-place ; and the seventh, placed edgewise,
serves as a sliding door to close this fire-place in front
more or less, as shall be found best.

438 On the Construction of Kitchen

This little fire-place, which is better calculated for
wood or for turf than for coals, is represented filled
with fire-wood ready to be kindled, and a dotted circu-
lar line shows where the bottom of the circular hoop
of sheet iron (in which the pan is suspended) should
be set down upon the top of the three bricks which are
uppermost.

If, in constructing this fire-place, its walls be made
higher by using nine bricks instead of six (laid down
flat upon one another by threes), and if a few loose
pebbles or stones of any kind, about as large as hens'
eggs, be put into it under the fuel, these additions will
improve it considerably. The fuel being laid upon
these pebbles instead of lying on the hearth or on the
ground, the air necessary for its combustion will the
more readily get under it, which will cause the fire to
burn brighter and more heat to be generated.

These small stones will likewise serve other useful
purposes. They will grow very hot, and when they are
so they will increase the violence of the combustion
and the intensity of the heat; and, even after the fuel
is all consumed, they will still be of use by giving off
gradually to the pan the heat which they will have
imbibed.

Savages, who have few implements of cookery, make
great use of heated stones in preparing their food ; and
civilized nations would do wisely to avail themselves
oftener than they do of their ingenious contrivances.

I have already mentioned that a considerable saving
of fuel was made in consequence of furnishing the broad
and shallow boilers of the Bavarian soldiers with double
covers ; but for boilers of this kind, that are destined
for poor families, I would recommend wooden or earthen

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 439

dishes, turned upside down, instead of these double
covers ; which dishes may also be used for serving up
the victuals after it is cooked. By this contrivance an
article necessary in housekeeping will be made to serve
two purposes ; and, besides this advantage, as a deep
bowl or platter turned upside down over the shallow
boiler will leave a considerable space above the level of
the boiler, which, as steam is lighter than air, will always
be filled with hot steam when the water in the shallow
pan is boiling, notwithstanding that the joinings of this
inverted dish with the rim of the pan will not be steam-
tight, a piece of meat much larger than could be covered
by the water in this shallow pan might be cooked in it,
or potatoes or greens, placed above the surface of the
water in the pan, might be cooked in steam.

The following figure, which represents a vertical sec-
tion of one of these shallow iron boilers, 14 inches in
diameter above, surrounded by a cylindrical hoop of
sheet iron for confining the heat, and covered by an
inverted earthen dish, will give a clear idea of the
proposed arrangement : —

Fig. 77-

The fire-place represented in this figure is that shown
in the preceding figure (Fig. 76), and is constructed of

44-O On the Construction of Kitchen

six loose bricks. The brick which occasionally serves
to close the opening into the fire-place in front is not
shown.

A shallow dish is represented (by dotted lines) stand-
ing on a small tripod above the surface of the water in
the boiler and filled with potatoes, which are supposed
to be boiled in steam.

The earthen dish which covers the boiler is repre-
sented with a small projection like the foot which is
frequently given to earthen dishes. This projection
serves instead of a handle when the dish is placed
upon, or removed from, the boiler.

This I believe to be the cheapest contrivance that
can be used for cooking victuals for a poor family,
especially when the 'durability of the utensil is taken
into the account, and also the small quantity of fuel
that is required to heat it. The following contrivance
will, however, be found more convenient and not much
more expensive.

Description of a very useful portable Kitchen Boiler
of cast Iron, suitable for a small Family.

The form of this boiler is such that it may easily
be cast, and consequently it may be afforded at a low
price ; and it is equally well calculated to be used with
one of the small temporary fire-places just described,
constructed with six or with nine loose bricks, or to be
heated over one of the small portable kitchen furnaces,
of which an account has been given in Chapter XI.
It may be made of any dimensions, but the size I
would recommend for a small poor family is that in-
dicated by the following figure, which is drawn to a
scale of 6 inches to the inch.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 441

This boiler is io| inches in diameter above, on the
inside of the steam-rim, 9! inches in diameter below,
and 8| deep, measured from the top of the inside of

Fig. 78.

the steam-rim ; consequently it will hold about 3
gallons. Its greatest diameter at its brim is 13^
inches, and total height to the top of its steam-rim
is 9! inches.

The hollow cylinder of sheet iron in which this
boiler is suspended, and which confines the heat by
defending its sides from the cold air of the atmosphere,
is 8J inches high and just 1 1 inches in diameter.

When this boiler is used for preparing only one dish
of victuals, or for cooking several things that may, with-
out inconvenience, be all boiled together in the same
water, it may be covered with the cover represented in
the following figure : —

This cover is composed of one piece of cast iron,
covered above with a flat circular piece of wood which
serves for confining the heat. The wood is fastened
to the iron by means of a strong wood screw, with a

442 On the Construction of Kitchen

flat square head, which passes through a hole in the
centre of the piece of cast iron.

The handle of this cover must project on one side,
and must be fastened to the metal and not to the wood.
A piece of it is seen (at a) in the figure. It may either
be cast with the cover, or it may be of wrought iron and
fastened to it by rivets.

The figure, which is a vertical section of the cover,
shows the form of it distinctly, and it will be perceived
that the piece of cast iron is of a shape which renders
it easy to be moulded and cast. The two small pro-
jections on the right and left of the hole in the centre
of the cover are sections of a circular projection, about
i2o- of an inch in height, which, as will be seen presently,
is designed to serve a particular purpose. In the cir-
cumference of this horizontal projecting ring there are
three equi-distant projecting blunt points, each about
i^ of an inch high above the level of the upper flat
surface of the cover, or about ^ of an inch higher than
the ring from the upper part of which they project.
These three points serve for supporting a shallow dish
in which vegetables or any other kind of victuals is
put in order to its being cooked in steam.

Of the Manner of using this simple Apparatus for
cooking with Steam.

This may easily be done in the following manner.
The flat circular piece of wood belonging to the cover
of this boiler being renioved and the (cast iron) cover
being put down upon the boiler, a shallow dish about
2 inches less in diameter than the cover at its brim
or upper projecting rim, containing the victuals to be
cooked in steam, is to be set down upon the cover, just

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 443

in the centre of it ; and an inverted earthen pot, or any
other vessel of a form and size proper for that use,
being put over it, the steam from the boiler passing
up through the hole in the centre of the cover will
find its way under the shallow dish, and passing up-
wards by the sides of this dish will enter the inverted
earthen pot, and, expelling the air, will take its place,
and the victuals in the dish will be surrounded on
every side by hot steam.

Instead of an earthen pot, an inverted glass bell may
be used for covering the victuals in the shallow dish,
which will not only render the experiment more strik-
ing and more amusing, but will also in some respects
be more convenient ; for, as the process that is going
on may be seen distinctly through the glass, a judgment
may, in many cases, be formed, from the appearance of
the victuals when they are sufficiently done, without
removing this vessel by which the steam is confined.
. I would not, however, recommend glass vessels for
common use, as they would be too expensive for poor
families and too liable to be broken. For them, a pot
of the commonest earthen-ware, or a small wooden tub,
would be much more proper. But, for those who can
afford the expense and who find amusement in experi-
ments of this kind, the glass bell will be preferable to
an opaque vessel.

The manner in which this simple apparatus for cook-
ing with steam is to be arranged will be so easily un-
derstood from what has been said, that a figure can
hardly be necessary to form a clear and satisfactory
idea of it. I shall therefore now proceed to a descrip-
tion of another method of cooking with steam with
these small portable kitchen boilers.

444 On the Construction of Kitchen

The following figure, which is drawn to a scale of
8 inches to the inch, represents a vertical section of a
steam-dish of earthen-ware, proper to be used with the
boiler represented by the Fig. 78 : —

Fig. 80.

The following figure represents a vertical section of
an earthen bowl, which, being inverted, may be used
occasionally as a cover for the steam-dish represented
above, or as a cover for the boiler : —

Fig. 81.

When this dish is not in use as a cover for the
steam-dish or the boiler, it may be made use of for
other purposes. It may, for instance, serve for bringing
the soup or any other kind of food upon the table, or
for containing any thing that is to be put away. In
short, it may be employed for any purpose for which
any other earthen bowl of the same form and dimensions
would be useful.

In like manner the steam-dish may be made use of
for many other purposes besides cooking with steam.

This steam-dish, and the bowl which serves as a cover
to it, may both be made of cast iron ; but, when this is

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 445

done, they should be tinned on the inside and japanned
on the outside, to give them a neat and cleanly appear-
ance, and prevent their rusting. They may likewise
be made of pewter ; or, by changing their forms a little,
they may be made of tin. The choice of the material
to be employed in constructing them must, in each case,
be determined by circumstances.

The inverted bowl which covers the steam-dish may
be used likewise for covering the boiler when the steam-
dish is not in use. Or the cover of the boiler, which is
represented by the Fig. 79, may be made use of instead
of the inverted bowl for covering the steam-dish, and
the bowl may be omitted altogether. One principal
reason why I proposed this bowl was to show how by
a little contrivance, an article useful in housekeeping
might, without any inconvenience or impropriety, be
made to serve different purposes.

It is the interest of so many persons to increase as
much as possible the number of articles used in house-
keeping, and to render them as expensive as possible,
that I could not help feeling a strong desire to counter-
act this tendency in some measure, at least in as far as
it affects the comforts and enjoyments of the poor.

The natural and the fair object of the exertions of
the industrious part of mankind being the acquirement
of wealth, their ingenuity is employed and exhausted in
supplying the wants and gratifying the taste of the rich
and luxurious.

It is not their interest to encourage the practice of
economy, except it be privately, in their own families.

Though I sometimes speak with indignation of some
of those ridiculous forms under which unmeaning and
ostentatious dissipation too often insults common de-

446 On the Construction of Kitchen

cency, and mortally offends eve'ry principle of good
taste and elegant refinement, I am very, very far from
wishing to diminish the expenses of the rich.

I well know that the free circulation of the blood is
not more essentially necessary to the health of a strong
athletic man than the free and rapid circulation of
money is necessary to the prosperity of a great man-
ufacturing and commercial country, whose power at
home and abroad is necessarily maintained at a great
expense.

Those who would take the trouble to meditate pro-
foundly on the influence which taxes and luxury neces-
sarily have, and ever must have, in promoting that circu-
lation, would, I am confident, become more reconciled
to the present state 'of things, and less alarmed at the
progressive increase of public and private expense.

It is apathy and a general corruption of taste (which
is inseparably connected with avarice and a corruption
of morals], and not the progress of elegant refinement,
that is a symptom of national decline.

But to return to my subject. The boiler above rec-
ommended (see Fig. 78) is peculiarly well adapted for
being used with the small portable furnaces described
in the eleventh chapter of this Essay ; and, as these
furnaces will not be expensive, I would strongly rec-
ommend them for the use of poor families, to be used
with the utensils I have just been describing.

A cast-iron portable furnace, with one of these boilers
and one of the cheap tea-kettles described in the last
chapter, which might all be purchased for a small sum,
would be a most valuable acquisition to a poor family.
It would not only save them a great deal in fuel and in
time employed in watching and keeping up the fire in

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 447

cooking their victuals, but it would also have a powerful
tendency to facilitate and expedite the introduction of
essential improvements in their cookery, which is an
object of much greater importance than is generally
imagined.

The boiler in question (represented in the Fig. 78)
is made double, or rather it is suspended in a hollow
cylinder of sheet iron. This hollow cylinder is certainly
useful, as it serves to confine the heat about the boiler ;
but as it renders the implement more expensive, and
may wear out or be destroyed by rust after a certain
time, I shall now show how a boiler, proper to be used
with one of the portable furnaces before recommended,
may be so constructed as to answer without a hollow
cylinder.

The following figure represents a vertical section of
such a boiler of cast iron drawn to a scale of 8 inches
to the inch : —

Fig. 82.

The essential difference between this boiler and that
last described consists in a rim of about f of an inch in
depth, which descends below its bottom, and forms a
kind of foot, on which it stands. This foot being made
of such diameter as to fit the sand-rim of the furnace,
into which it enters when the boiler is placed over the
furnace, the flame and smoke of the fire are confined

44 8 On the Construction of Kitchen

under the bottom of the boiler quite as effectually as if
the boiler were suspended in a cylinder.

It can hardly be necessary that I should observe
here — what would probably occur to the reader with-
out my mentioning it — that stewpans and saucepans
for register-stoves, and for portable furnaces of all kinds
with steam-rims, might be constructed on this simple
principle.

It is on this principle that the tea-kettles are con-
structed that were recommended in the last chapter.

I shall finish this chapter by a few observations
respecting the means that may be used for combining
the method of cooking here recommended for poor
families, with the warming of their habitations in cold
weather. This can most readily be done by using an
inverted, tall, hollow, cylindrical vessel of tin, thin sheet
iron, or sheet copper, as a cover to the boiler (or to
the steam-dish, when that is used).

This will change the whole apparatus into a steam-
stove, which, as I have elsewhere shown, is one of the
best kinds of stoves that can be used for warming a
room.

Whenever this is done, care must .be taken to stop up
the chimney fire-place with a chimney-board, otherwise
all the air warmed by the stove, and rendered lighter
than the external air, will find its way up the chimney,
and escape out of the room. A small opening must,
however, be left for the tube which carries off the smoke
from the portable furnace into the chimney.

But, whenever it is intended that a portable kitchen
furnace should be used occasionally for warming a room
by means of steam, it will be very advisable to construct
the furnace with an opening on one side of it, for the

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 449

purpose of introducing the fuel without removing the
boiler.

But even should no use whatever be made of this
cooking apparatus in warming the room, the use of
it will nevertheless be found to be very economical.
The quantity of fuel consumed in preparing food will
be greatly diminished ; and, as a fire may at any time
be lighted in one of these portable furnaces almost in
an instant, there will be no longer any necessity nor any
excuse for constantly keeping up a fire on the hearth
in warm weather, which is but too often done in this
country, even in places where fuel is neither cheap nor
plenty. And even in winter, when a fire in the grate is
necessary to render the room warm and comfortable,
it will still be good economy to light a small separate
fire in a portable furnace, or other closed fire-place, for
the purpose of cooking ; for nothing is so ill-judged as
most of those attempts that are so frequently made
by ignorant projectors to force the same jire to perform
different services at the same time.

The heat generated in the combustion of fuel is a
given quantity ; and the more directly it is applied to the
object on which it is employed, so much the better, for
the less of it will escape or be lost on the way, and
what is taken away on one side for a particular pur-
pose can produce no effect whatever on the other,
where it is not.

VOL. nr. 29

45° On the Construction of Kitchen

CHAPTER XIV.

Miscellaneous Observations respecting culinary Utensils
of various Kinds, etc. — Of cheap Boilers of Tin and
of cast Iron, suitable to be used with portable Fur-
naces. — Of earthen Boilers and Stewpans proper

for the same Use. — Of LARGE PORTABLE KITCHEN
FURNACES, with Fire-place Doors. — Description of
a very cheap SQUARE BOILER of sheet Iron, suitable

for a PUBLIC KITCHEN. — Of PORTABLE BOILERS and
Fire-places that would be very useful for preparing
Food for the Poor in Times of Scarcity. — Of the
ECONOMY OF HOUSE-ROOM in the Arrangement of a
Kitchen for a large Family. — A short Account of
//&? COTTAGE GRATE and of a small GRIDIRON GRATE

for open Chimney Fire-places. — A Description of a
DOUBLE DOOR for closed Fire-places.

\ LTHOUGH my Essays are professedly experi-
•^""A- mental, and. I seldom or never presume to trouble
the public with mere speculations, or to recommend
any mechanical contrivance till I have been convinced
of its utility by actual experiment, yet my inquiries
have been so numerous and so varied that I am fre-
quently apprehensive of embarrassing my reader, and
perhaps tiring and disgusting him by too great a vari-
ety of detail. To avoid that evil (which would be fatal
to all my hopes) I shall, in this chapter, pass as rapidly
as possible over a great number of different objects,
many of which will, no doubt, be considered as curious
and important. And to relieve the attention of the
reader, and also to make it easy for him to pass over

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 451

what he may have no curiosity to examine, I shall divide
my subject as much as possible, and shall treat each
distinct branch of it under a separate head of inquiry.

I shall likewise make a liberal use of figures, for by
means of them it is often possible to convey more satis-
factory information at a single glance than could be
obtained by reading many sentences. Whenever I sit
down to write, I feel my mind deeply impressed with
a sense of the respect which I owe, as an individual,
to the public, to whom I presume to address myself;
and often consider how blamable it would be in
me, especially when I am endeavouring to recommend
economy, to trifle with the time of thousands.

Too much pains cannot be taken by those who write
books to render their ideas clear, and their language
concise and easy to be understood.

Hours spent by an author in saving minutes or even
seconds to his readers is time well employed. But I
must hasten to get forward.

Of the Construction of cheap Boilers and Stewpans of
Tin or cast Iron, proper to be used with small port-
able Furnaces.

These utensils, when they are made of tin, may be
constructed on the same principles as the tea-kettles
described in the last chapter; that is to say, their bot-
toms being raised up about half an inch above the
level of the lower part of their conical or cylindrical
sides, and being moreover made of a proper diameter
to fit the sand-rim of the furnace, they may be used
without being made double. When they are of cast
iron, they may be made of the same form below as the

452

On the Construction of Kitchen

boiler represented by the Fig. 82, and particularly
described in the last chapter.

Of earthen Boilers and Stewpans proper to be used
with portable Furnaces.

Although the earthen stewpan represented by the
Fig. 74 (see chapter XII.) is of a good form, yet those
represented by the two following figures have likewise
their peculiar merit. They are of forms which render
them well adapted for being suspended in hollow cyl-
inders of sheet iron, and for their being defended by
those cylinders from being broken by accidental falls
and blows. From a bare view of them the reader will

Fig. 84.

i-/ \\->

ff= — =^.-=JFE^\

be able to appreciate their relative merit, and also to
discover the particular objects had in view in the con-
trivance of them. The second (Fig. 84) has a steam-
rim, and consequently may be used for cooking with
steam by means of a steam-dish.

It would no doubt be very possible to construct
earthen boilers and stewpans of such forms as to ren-
der them capable of being used with portable furnaces
without being suspended in hollow cylinders. An
earthen stewpan or saucepan, of the form represented
by the following figure, would probably answer for that
purpose : —

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils.

Fig. 85.

453

Of large portable Kitchen Furnaces with Fire-place
Doors.

The following figure represents a vertical section
(drawn to a scale of 1 2 inches to the inch) of a portable
furnace of this kind, constructed of sheet iron : —

Fig. 86.

Furnaces of this kind might, I am confident, be made
very useful in many cases. Wood, coals, charcoal, or
turf, might indifferently be used with them; and no
contrivance is better calculated for promoting both the
economy of fuel and that of house-room.

Portable furnaces on this principle might easily be
made of cast iron, which would be both cheap and dur-
able ; or they might be constructed partly of cast iron
and partly of sheet iron, in the manner recommended
in the eleventh chapter, in respect to portable furnaces
without fire-place doors.

454 On the Construction of Kitchen

The door belonging to this fire-place is not repre-
sented in the foregoing figure. It may be a hollow
cylindrical stopper made of 'sheet iron.

Description of a very cheap square Boiler of sheet Iron,
suitable for a public Kitchen.

As some of the most wholesome and nourishing as
well as most palatable kinds of food that can be pre-
pared are rich and savoury soups and broths, and as
many of these can be afforded at a very low price,
especially when they are made in large quantities, there
is no doubt but the use of them will become more gen-
eral, and that they will in time constitute an essential,
if not the principal, part of the victuals furnished to the
poor, in every country, from public kitchens ; and also
to those who are lodged in hospitals or confined in
prisons. And as the rich flavour and nutritious qual-
ity— or, in other words, the goodness of any soup —
depend very much on the manner of cooking it, —
that is to say, on its being boiled or rather simmered
for a long time over a very slow fire, — the form of the
boiler and the form of the fire-place are both objects
of great importance.

The simplicity and cheapness of the machinery, and
the facility of procuring it in all places and getting
it fitted up, are also objects to which much attention
ought to be paid. Refined improvements, which require
great accuracy in the execution and much care in the
management of them, must not be attempted. •

The boiler I would propose for the use of public
kitchens is similar in all respects to that which has
been adopted at Hamburg, after a model sent from
Munich ; for, although there is nothing about this

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 455

boiler that indicates the display of much ingenuity in
its contrivance, yet it has been found to answer very
well as often as it has been tried ; and its great sim-
plicity renders it peculiarly well adapted for the use
for which it is recommended.

A perfect idea of this boiler may be formed from the
following figure, where it is represented without the
wooden curb to which it is fixed when it is set in brick-
work : —

Fig. 87.

This boiler is 24 inches wide, 36 inches long, and 15
inches deep ; consequently, when it is filled to within
3 inches of its brim, or when the liquor in it stands at
the depth of 12 inches, it contains 10,364 cubic inches,
which make above 362 beer-gallons.

It should be constructed of sheet iron tinned on the
inside ; and, when it is not in use, care should be taken
to wipe it out very dry with a dry cloth to prevent its
being injured by rust ; and, as often as it is put away
for any considerable time, it should be smeared over
with fresh butter or any other kind of animal fat un-
mixed with salt.

The sheet iron will be sufficiently thick and strong
if the boiler when finished weigh 40 pounds ; and, as
the best sheet iron costs no more than about $\d. per
lb., the manufacturer ought not to charge more than
6d. per lb. for the boiler when finished, which, if it
weigh 40 Ibs., will amount to 2os.

456 On the Construction of Kitchen

To strengthen the boiler at the brim, it must be fast-
ened to a curb of wood, which may be a frame of board
\\ or i \ inch thick, 5 inches wide, and just large enough
to allow the boiler to pass into it and be suspended by
its projecting brim. This brim, which may be made
about an inch wide, must be fastened down upon the
wooden curb with tinned nails or with small wood
screws.

This curb will be 3 feet 10 inches long and 2 feet
10 inches wide ; and, as the stuff used is 5 inches wide,
it will measure very nearly 2f feet, superficial measure,
which, at 6d. the foot (which would be a fair price in
London for the work when done), would amount to
is. Af\d.

The boiler must be furnished with a cover, which
may be made of wood, and should consist of three
distinct pieces framed and panelled, and united by
two pair of hinges, as they are represented in the fol-
lowing figure : —

Fig. 88.

This cover will measure about 7 superficial feet, and,
at yd. the foot, will cost 4^. id. The hinges may cost
about ^d. the pair, consequently the cover will cost, all
together, about 45. qd.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 457

This figure represents the boiler fixed in its wooden
curb and with its cover in its place.

The first division of the cover (which is 12 inches
wide) is laid back on the second (which is 14 inches
wide) whenever it is necessary to open the boiler to put
anything into it or to take anything out of it, or merely
to stir about its contents. When the boiler is to be
washed out and cleaned, the opening into it is made
larger by throwing back the first and second divisions
of its cover, folded one upon the other, and leaning them
against the steam-tube which stands upon the third di-
vision of the cover, which division is firmly fixed down
upon the curb of the boiler by means of wood screws.

The steam-tube (which should be of sufficient length
to carry the steam from the boiler out of the room into
the open air or into a neighbouring chimney) may be
made of four slips of | inch thick deal boards fastened
together (by being grooved into each other and nailed
together) in such a manner as to form a hollow square
trunk, measuring about \\ inches wide in the clear.

In setting this boiler in brick-work, the flame and
smoke from the fire should be made to act on its bot-
tom only, but its sides and ends should be bricked up,
in order more effectually to confine the heat. The
mass of brick-work should be just 3 feet 8 inches long
and 2 feet 8 inches wide, in order that the curb of the
boiler may cover it above and project beyond it hor-
izontally on every side about i an inch. The bars of
the fire-place on which the fuel burns should be situated
12 or 14 inches below the bottom of the boiler, in order
that the boiler may not be injured when the fire hap-
pens by accident or by mismanagement to be made too
intense.

45 8 On the Construction of Kitchen

' It is not necessary that I should mention here any
of the precautions which are to be observed in setting
boilers of this kind in brick-work ; for that subject has
already been so amply treated in various parts of these
Essays that to add any thing to what has already been
said upon it could be little better than an unnecessary
and tiresome repetition.

This boiler would be sufficiently large for cooking
for about 300 persons. If it were necessary to feed a
much greater number from the same kitchen, I would
rather recommend the fitting up of two or more boilers
of this size than constructing one large boiler to sup-
ply the place of a greater number of others of a mod-
erate size ; for I have found by much experience that
very large boilers are, far from being either economical
or convenient.

Large boilers of sheet iron, and especially such as
are not kept in constant use, are always very expensive,
on account of their being so liable to be destroyed by
rust.

Of portable Boilers and Fire-places that would be very
useful for preparing- Food for the Poor in Times of
Scarcity.

There is always much trouble and inconvenience, and
frequently much danger, in collecting .together great
numbers of idle people ; and these assemblies are never
so likely to produce mischievous effects as in times of
public calamity, when it is peculiarly difficult to pre-
serve order and subordination among the lower and most
needy classes of society.

I have often trembled at seeing the immense crowds
of poor people, without occupation, who were sometimes

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 459

collected together at the doors of the great public
kitchens in London during the scarcity of the year
1800.

Two or three hundred people may, without any con-
siderable inconvenience, be supplied with food from the
same kitchen ; but when public kitchens are not con-
nected with asylums or houses or schools of industry
where the poor assemble to work during the day, and
when there is no other object in view but merely to
enable the poor to purchase good and wholesome food
at the lowest prices possible, without any interference
at all with their domestic employments or concerns, it
appears to me that it would always be best to select
from amongst the poor a certain number of honest and
intelligent persons, and encourage them to prepare and
sell to their poor neighbours, under proper regulation
and inspection, such kinds of food and at such prices
as should be prescribed by those who have the charge
of providing for the relief of the poor.

A plan of this sort might be executed at any time
on the pressure of the moment, without the smallest
delay, and almost without either trouble or expense,
if each parish or community were to provide and keep
ready in store a certain number of portable kitchen fur-
naces, with boilers belonging to them, to be lent out
occasionally to those who should be willing to under-
take to cook and sell victuals to the poor on the terms
that should be proposed.

If these boilers were made to hold from 8 to 10
gallons, they would serve for preparing food for 60 or
70 persons ; and, as they would require very little fuel,
and so little attendance that a woman who should
undertake the management of one of them might per-

460 On the Construction of Kitchen

form that service with great ease by devoting to it each
day the labour of half an hour, and giving to it occa-
sionally a few moments of attention, which would hardly
interrupt her in her common domestic employments,
this method of preparing food would be very econom-
ical, — perhaps more so than any other, — and, with
proper inspection, it would be little liable to abuse.

How very useful would these portable boilers and
furnaces be for providing a warm and cheap dinner
for children who frequent schools of industry !

No furnace could, in my opinion, be better contrived
for this use than that represented in the Fig. 86 ; and
the boiler might be made either of sheet iron tinned,
or of copper tinned, or of cast iron. It cannot be
necessary that I should give any particular directions
respecting its form, and its dimensions may easily be
computed from its capacity, when that is determined on.

A portable cooking apparatus of this kind, which is
designed as a model for imitation, may be seen in the
repository of the Royal Institution.

Of the Economy of House-room in the Arrangement of
a Kitchen for a large Family.

There is nothing which marks the progress of civil
society more strongly than the use that is made of
house-room ; and nothing would tend more to prevent
the too rapid progress of destructive luxury among the
industrious classes than a taste for neatness and true
elegance in all the inferior details of domestic arrange-
ment. The pleasing occupation which those objects
of rational pursuit afford to the mind fills up leisure
time in a manner that is both useful and satisfactory
and prevents ennui and all its fatal consequences.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 461

The poor cook their victuals in the rooms in which
they dwell ; but those who can afford the expense —
and many indeed who cannot — set apart a room for
the purpose of cooking, and call it a kitchen. I am
far from desiring to alter this order of things, for I
think it perfectly proper. What I wish is, that each
class of society may be made as comfortable as pos-
sible, and that all their domestic arrangements may be
neat and elegant, and at the same time economical.

I always fancy that teaching industrious people
economy, and giving them a taste for the improve-
ment of all those useful contrivances and rational
enjoyments that are within their reach, is something
like showing them how, without either toil or trouble,
and with a good conscience, they may obtain all those
advantages which riches command, together with many
other very sweet enjoyments which money cannot buy.
And whose heart is so cold as not to glow with ardent
zeal at a prospect so well calculated to awaken all the
most generous feelings of humanity ?

But to return from this digression. There are various
methods that may be used for economizing house-room
in making the necessary arrangements for cooking. If
the family be small, the use of portable furnaces and
boilers will be found to be very advantageous.

For a large family I would recommend what I shall
call a concealed kitchen. There are two very complete
kitchens of this kind, which have been fitted up under
my direction at the Royal Institution : the one, which
is small, is in the housekeeper's room ; the other is in
the great kitchen. These were both made as models
for imitation, and may be examined by any person who
wishes to see them.

462

On the Construction of Kitchen

There are also two kitchens of this kind in my house
at Brompton in two adjoining rooms, which have been
fitted up principally with a view to showing that all the
different processes of cookery may be carried on in a
room which, on entering it, nobody would suspect to
be a kitchen. The following figure is the ground plan
of one of them : —

Fig. 89.

a is the opening of the fire-place, which is brought
forward into the room about 14 J inches. This was
done, in order to give more room for the family boiler,
which is situated at b, and the roaster, which is placed
on the other side of the open chimney fire-place at c.

The two broad spaces on the two sides of the roaster,
by which the smoke from the fire below it rises up round
it, and another at the farther end of it, by which the
smoke descends, are distinguished by dark shades, as
are also the two square canals by which the smoke from
the roaster and that from the boiler rise up into the
chimney.

The top of the grate is seen which belongs to the
open chimney fire-place : it is represented by horizon-
tal lines. It is what I have called a cottage grate, and

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 463

what is sold in the shops under that name. The retail
price of this grate, with its fender and trivet, is ten
shillings and sixpence. The Carron Company entered
into an engagement with me to furnish them by whole-
sale to the trade, delivered in London, at seven shillings
and sixpence. A front view of this grate may be seen
in the next figure. As this figure (Fig. 89) is designed
merely for showing where the different parts of the
apparatus are to be placed, and not how they are to
be fitted up, none of the details of the setting of the
roaster or boiler were in this place attempted to be
expressed with accuracy. Information respecting those
particulars must be collected from other parts of the
work.

The grate represented in this figure is calculated for
boiling a pot or a tea-kettle, and for heating flat-irons
for ironing. Its bottom is so contrived as to be easily
taken away and replaced. By removing it at night, or
whenever a fire is no longer wanted, the coals in the
grate fall down on the hearth, and the fire immediately
goes out. This contrivance not only saves much fuel,
which otherwise would be consumed to waste, but it is
also very convenient on another account. As all the
coals and ashes fall out of the grate when its bottom is
removed, on replacing it again the grate is empty and
ready for a new fire to be kindled in it.

The top of this grate, which is a flat piece of cast
iron, has one large hole in it for allowing the smoke
to pass upwards, and another behind it, which is much
smaller, through which it is forced to descend into what
has been called a diving-flue, whenever the boiler be-
longing to this fire-place is used, — which boiler is
suspended in a hollow cylinder of sheet iron, about

464 On the Construction of Kitchen

1 \\ inches in diameter, resembling in all respects the
boilers used with the register-stoves described in the
tenth chapter of this Essay.

I intend, as soon as it shall be in my power, to pub-
lish a particular detailed account of this grate, and also
of several others for open chimney fire-places, which
at my recommendation have lately been introduced in
this country. In the mean time, I avail myself of this
opportunity of pointing out one fault which has been
committed by almost all those who have undertaken to
set cottage grates in brick-work. They have made what
has been called the diving-flue much too deep. It is
more than probable that the name given to this flue
has contributed not a little to lead them into this error.
When properly constructed, it hardly deserves the name
of a flue, for it ought not to be above two inches deep,
measured from the under surface of the flat plate of
cast iron which forms the top of the grate. There are
two important advantages that result from making this
opening in the brick-work for the passage of the smoke
very shallow : the one is, that in this case it may easily
be cleaned out when coals happen to fall into it by acci-
dent when it is left uncovered ; and the other is, that
the back wall of the fire-place, against which the fuel
burns, may in that case be made thick- and strong, and
not so liable to be destroyed by the end of the poker in
stirring the fire as it is when there is a hollow flue just
behind it.

Both these are important objects, and for want of due
attention being paid to them cottage grates have, to my
knowledge, often been disgraced and rejected. When
they are properly set and properly managed, they are
very useful fire-places where coal or turf is burned ; and

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 465

it never was designed that they should be used with
wood.

When kitchens are fitted up on the plan here recom-
mended in places where wood is used as fuel, the open
chimney fire-place, which is situated between the roaster
and the boiler, may be constructed of the form repre-
sented in the foregoing figure, but without any fixed
grate ; and the wood may be burned on andirons or on
a small movable gridiron grate placed on the hearth.

These gridiron grates are very simple in their con-
struction, cheap and durable ; and they make an
excellent fire, either with coals or turf, or with wood,
if it be sawed or cut into short billets. Five of these
grates may be seen at the house of the Royal Institu-
tion : one in the great lecture-room, one in the appara-
tus-room, one in the manager's room, one in the clerks'
room, and one in the dining-room. They have hitherto
been made of two sizes only; namely, of 16 inches and
of 1 8 inches in width in front. The width of the back
part of the grate is always made just equal to half its
width in front, and the two sloping sides or ends of the
grate are each just equal in width to the back. The
form and dimensions of the grate determine the form
and dimensions of the open chimney fire-place in which
it is used ; for the back of the fire-place must always
be made just equal in width to the back of the grate,
and the sloping of the covings must be the same as the
sloping of the ends of the grate.

From what has been said of the proportions of the
front, back, and sides of these grates, it is evident that
the covings and backs of their fire-places must make
an angle with each other just equal to 1 20. degrees.
This angle I have been induced to prefer to one of

466 On the Construction of Kitchen

135 degrees, which I formerly recommended for open
chimney fire-places. The reasons for this preference will
be fully explained in another place. To give them here
would take up too much time, and would moreover be
foreign to my present subject.

For the information of the public, and to prevent, in
as far as it is in my power, exorbitant demands being
made for these useful articles, I would just observe
that the smallest or 1 6-inch gridiron grate, together
with all the apparatus belonging to it, ought to cost, by
retail, no more than seven shillings. This apparatus
consists of a cast-iron fender, a trivet for supporting
a boiler or a tea-kettle over the fire, and a small plate
of cast iron (to be fastened into the back of the chim-
ney), by means of which, and a small bolt or nail, the
grate is fastened in its place on the hearth.

The second-sized or 1 8-inch gridiron grate, with all
its apparatus (consisting of the three articles mentioned
above), ought to be sold, by retail, for seven shillings
and sixpence.

The wholesale price of these articles, at the Carron
Company's warehouse, in London (Thames Street, near
Blackfriars' Bridge), to the trade, and to gentlemen who
buy them by the dozen, to distribute them to the poor,
is: —

For the gridiron-grate No. I, with
the articles belonging to it . . . four shillings.

For that No. 2, with the articles
belonging to it four shillings and sixpence.

These are the wholesale and retail prices which I
fixed with the agent of the Carron Company, at their
works in Scotland, in the autumn of the year 1800,
when I made a journey there for the purpose of estab-

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 467

lishing these regulations ; and when I made a present
to the Company of all my patterns, which I had got
.made in London, and which had been rendered as per-
fect as possible by previous experiments, — namely, by
getting castings taken from them by the best London
founders, and altering them occasionally, till they were
acknowledged to be quite complete.

If it had been possible for me to have done more to
prevent impositions, I should have done it with pleas-
ure ; and I should have felt, at the same time, that I
had done no more than what it was my duty to do.

But to return from this long digression. I shall now
hasten to finish my account of the means which have
been used in one of the rooms in my house (that des-
tined for the large kitchen) for concealing the roaster
and the family boiler.

The following figure is an elevation of that part
of the side of the room where these implements are
concealed : —

Fig. 90.

The open chimney fire-place and the front of the
grate are distinctly shown in the middle of this figure,
in the lower part of it. The panelled door, immedi-

468 On the Construction of Kitchen

ately above the mantel of the chimney fire-place, which
reaches nearly to the ceiling of the room, serves to
shut up a small closet with narrow shelves, which has
no connection with culinary affairs, but is used for
putting away candlesticks, and any other small articles
used in housekeeping, which are occasionally laid by
when not in actual use. The two other panelled doors
by the side of it serve, — the one (that on the right
hand) for concealing the roaster, and the other for
concealing the family boiler.

The two (shorter) panelled doors, on the right and
left of the open chimney fire-place, and on the same
level with it, serve for concealing the fire-place doors
and ash-pit doors of the closed fire-places of the roaster
and of the boiler. •

The steam from the boiler (after passing through the
steam-dishes, when they are used) is carried off by a
tin tube into a small canal, which conveys it into the
chimney in such a manner that no part of it comes
into the room. The steam from the roaster is carried
off in like manner by its steam-tube.

If a void space, about 2 or 3 inches in depth, be left
between the outside of the door of the roaster and the
inside of the panelled door which shuts it up and con-
ceals it, and if this panelled door be lined on the inside
with thin sheet iron, the process of roasting may be
carried on with perfect safety with this door shut. And
if similar precautions be used to defend the other pan-
elled doors from the heat, they may also be kept shut
while the processes of boiling and roasting are actually
going on.

By these means it would be possible to prepare a
dinner for a large company in a room where there should

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 469

be no appearance of any cooking going on. But I lay
no stress on this particular advantage resulting from
this arrangement of the culinary apparatus. The real
advantage gained by it is this : that the kitchen is left
an habitable, and even an elegunt room, when the busi-
ness of cooking is over.

The kitchen in Heriot's Hospital at Edinburgh,
which was fitted up in the autumn of the year 1800,
is arranged in this manner, — with this difference, how-
ever, that all the panelled doors are omitted. The
boiler is shut up by a door of sheet iron, japanned ; and
the door of the roaster and the two fire-place doors and
two ash-pit register doors are exposed to view.

As the brick-work is whitewashed and kept clean, and
as the doors are all either japanned black or kept very
clean, the whole has a neat appearance.

The roaster and principal boiler in the great kitchen
of the house of the Royal Institution are put up nearly
in the same manner as those in Heriot's Hospital, ex-
cepting that in the former there is a hot closet, which
is situated immediately above the roaster, whereas there
is none belonging to the latter.

In one of the kitchens in my house there is, in the
place of the roaster, a roasting-oven, with a common
iron oven of the same dimensions placed directly over
it, and heated by the same fire.

The door of my roaster and that of my roasting-
oven are made single, of thin sheet iron, and they are
covered on the outside with panels of wood, for con-
fining the heat Instead of doors to their closed fire-
places, I use square stoppers, made of fire -stone or hard
fire-brick, fastened to flat pieces of sheet iron, to which
knobs of wood are fixed, which serve instead of handles.

470 On the Construction of Kitchen

These stoppers answer for confining the heat quite
as well, and perhaps even better, than double doors,
and they cost much less. They are fitted into square
frames of cast iron (nearly similar to that represented
in the Fig. 91), which are firmly fixed in the brick-
work by means of projecting flanges, which are cast
with them. The front edge of this frame or doorway
is ground and made perfectly level ; and the plate of
sheet iron, which forms a part of the stopper, being
made quite flat, shuts against the front edge of this
doorway, and closes the entrance into the fire-place
with the greatest accuracy.

The entrance into the ash-pit is likewise closed by
a stopper, which is so contrived as to serve occasionally
as a register for regulating the quantity of air admitted
into the fire-place.

As this register-stopper for the ash-pit of a small
closed fire-place is very simple in its construction, and
as I have found it to answer very well the purpose
for which it was contrived, I shall present the reader
with the following sketch of it, which will, I trust,
be sufficient to enable a workman of common inge-

Fig. 91.

nuity to construct, without difficulty, the thing which
is represented.

The box with a flange at each of its ends forms the

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 471

door-way into the ash-pit. It is of cast iron, and its
opening in front is 7-4 inches wide and 3! inches high.
It is concealed in the brick-work in such a manner that
its front edge only is seen, projecting about \ of an
inch before the brick-work.

When the register-stopper belonging to this door-
way (which is shown in this figure) is pushed quite
home, its flat plate comes into contact with the front
edge of the door-way, and closes the passage into the
ash-pit so completely that no air can enter. By with-
drawing this stopper more or less, more or less air is
admitted. The narrow, thin, elastic bands of iron, the
ends of which are fastened by rivets to the flat plate of
the stopper, serve to confine the stopper in any situ-
ation in which it is placed, which service they are
enabled to perform (in consequence of their elasticity
and of their peculiar shape) by pressing against the
sides of the door-way.

The only objection that I am acquainted with to this
kind of register for the door-way of the ash-pit of a
small closed fire-place is that it is not quite so easy to
see the precise state of the register as it is when the
air is admitted through a hole in the front of the ash-
pit door in the usual manner; but this objection is of
no great importance, especially as means may easily be
devised to remedy that trifling defect.

The door-way frames to all the closed fire-places in
my own kitchen are in all respects like that repre-
sented in the foregoing figure (Fig. 91), with this differ-
ence only, that they are 5 inches high instead of being
3! inches in height. An account has already been given
of the manner in which their stoppers were con-
structed.

472 On the Construction of Kitchen

It is right that the reader should be informed that
although I have made use of stoppers to close the
passage into each of the closed fire-places in my own
kitchen, yet very few persons have adopted this simple
and cheap contrivance. The reason why it has not
come into more general use might easily be explained ;
but I fancy it will be best that I should say nothing
now on that subject. Instead of recommending what
nobody would find much advantage in furnishing at
a fair price, it will be more wise and prudent to give a
short description of a more complicated, more elegant,
and more expensive contrivance, which has already
found its way into the shops of several of the most
respectable ironmongers in London. As this contriv-
ance has often been used, and has always been found
to answer perfectly well, I can venture to recommend
it to all those to whom an additional expense of a few
shillings or a guinea or two in fitting up a kitchen is
not considered as an object of importance.

A short Description of a DOUBLE DOOR for a closed
Fire-place.

The following figure (which is drawn to a scale of
6 inches to the inch) represents a horizontal section
of one of these double doors, and also of a part of the
brick-work in which it is set.

A is the inside door, and B is the outside door.
These doors are so connected by means of a crooked
rod of iron/; and the two joints g and h, that when the
outside door is opened or shut the inside door is neces-
sarily opened or shut at the same time. The inside
door, which is of cast iron and near £ an inch in thick-

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils.

473

ness, is movable on two pivots, one of which is repre-
sented at e. The outside door is movable on two
hinges, one of which is shown at d.

c is the latch by which the outside door is fastened.
This is of such a form that it may be used as a latch,
and may serve at the same time as a handle for open-
ing and shutting the door.

Fig. 92.

The door-way, which is of cast iron, is in the shape
of a hollow truncated quadrangular pyramid, with a
flange in front, about an inch wide, which flange,
when seen in front, seems to form a kind of frame to
the outside door ; the flange, which is about \ of an inch

474 On the Construction of Kitchen

in thickness, projecting before the vertical front of the
brick-work.

/, m, n, o, represents a horizontal section of this cast
iron door-way. The brick-work in which it is set is
distinguished by diagonal lines.

k is the passage leading to the fire-place: it is 6
inches wide in the clear from m to n, 5 inches high,
and 6 inches long, measured from the inside of the
inside door, when it is shut, to the hither ends of the
openings between the iron bars of the fire-place, through
which openings the air comes up from the ash-pit into
the fire-place. The hither ends of these bars (five in
number) are represented in the figure. They are each
distinguished by the letter i. The opening of the in-
side door-way is 6 inches wide and 5 inches high in
the clear; and the door itself is 6| inches wide and
52 inches high.

The outside door-way is 10 inches wide and 9 inches
high in the clear ; and the door, which is about T27 of
an inch in thickness, is iol inches wide and 9^- high.
The extreme width of the door-frame to the outward
edge of the flange is 1 2\ inches, and its extreme height
is 1 1£ inches.

The two straps of iron to which the hooks of the
hinges of the outside door are fastened pass through
two holes in the flange, provided for them in casting
the door-way, and are riveted to the sloping side of
the door-way on the left-hand side of it.

These holes are each | of an inch in length from top
to bottom, and about i of an inch in width. There is
another similar hole in the flange on the opposite side
of the door-way, through which a strap of iron passes,
the end of which projecting forward before the level of

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils.

475

the front edge of the door- way serves as a catch or
hook, into which the latch of the door falls when the
door is closed.

These three holes in the side flanges of the door-
way are distinctly represented in the following figure,
which is an elevation or front view of this door-way,
without its doors: —

Fig- 93-

It appears by this figure, but still more distinctly by
the last (Fig. 92), that the flange or front of this door-way
is not quite flat. It is raised at its inward edge, which
projects forward about \ of an inch. This projecting
rim, which is cast as thin as possible, is ground upon
a flat sand-stone and made quite level, in order that the
outside door, which is flat, by shutting against the front
of this projecting edge may close the opening into the
fire-place with the greatest possible accuracy.

It will likewise be remarked, on examining this figure
(Fig. 93) with attention, that the opening which is closed
by the inside door is not precisely in the middle of the
vertical flat surface against which that door shuts, being
situated a little above the middle of it. This particular

476 On the Construction of Kitchen

arrangement has been found to be of considerable use,
as it serves to prevent small pieces of coal from getting
between the inside door and that flat surface when the
door is shut.

These double doors (of a size larger than that repre-
sented by the two preceding figures) have lately been
introduced in a considerable number of hothouses in
the neighbourhood of London ; and I have been told,
by several persons who have tried them, that they have
been found very useful indeed. I was lately assured by
a very respectable gardener, who has adopted them in
all his hothouses, that since he has used them and
the register ash-pit doors which belong to them and are
always sold with them, and since he has altered the
construction of his fire-places, his consumption of coals
has been little more than half as much as it used for-
merly to be.

In setting these double doors in brick-work, great
care should always be taken to make the entrance into
the fire-place of some considerable length, or to keep
the hither ends of the iron bars on which the fuel burns
at some distance from the inside door ; otherwise, if the
burning fuel be near that door, it will heat it and its
frame red-hot, which will soon destroy their form and
prevent the door from closing the entrance of the fire-
place with accuracy.

I have found it to be a good general rule to place
the hither ends of the bars, which form the grate of
the fire-place, as far beyond the inside door as that
door-way is wide in the clear. And it will be found to
be an excellent precaution' to defend the door from
the heat, if that part of the passage into the fire-place
which lies beyond the inside door be kept constantly

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 477

rammed quite full of small coals; or, what would be
still better, of coal-dust mixed up with a certain pro-
portion of moist clay.

I have already, in a former part of this Essay, men-
tioned how necessary it is, in setting double doors in
brick-work, to take care to mask the farther end of
the door-way in such a manner (by means of bricks
interposed before it, or between it and the fire) that
the rays from the burning fuel may never fall on it.
The manner in which this is to be done is clearly
represented in the Fig. 92.

All these precautions for preventing these double
doors from being injured by excessive heat will be the
more necessary in proportion as the fire-places are
larger to which they belong.

There is one essential part of this apparatus which,
for want of room, was omitted in the two last figures, —
that is, the straps of wrought iron, by means of which
the door-way is firmly fixed in the brick-wrork ; but this
omission can be of no consequence, as every common
artificer will know, without any particular directions,
how that part of the work should be executed. These
straps must of course be fastened to the cast-iron door-
way by means of rivets.

CHAPTER XV.

Apology for the great Length of this Essay. — Regret
of the Author that he has not been able to publish
Plans and Descriptions of the various culinary In-
ventions that have lately been put up in the Kitchen
belonging to the House of the Royal Institution and

478 On the Construction of Kitchen

in the Kitchen of Heriofs Hospital at Edinburgh. —
A short Account of a BOILER, on a new Construction,
lately put up at the House of the Royal Institution,
for the purpose of GENERATING STEAM for warming
the Great Lecture-Room. — This Boiler would prob-
ably be found very useful for STEAM-ENGINES. —
An Account of a Contrivance for preventing metallic
STEAM-TUBES from being injured by the alternate
Expansion and Contraction of the Metal by Heat
and Cold. — An Account of a simple Contrivance
which serves as a Substitute for SAFETY-VALVES.

I CAN NOT finish this Essay without apologizing
for the great length of it. I had no idea when I
began it that it would' ever have grown to such a volu-
minous size ; but I am not-conscious of having inserted
any thing that could well have been omitted.

I was very desirous of laying before the public com-
plete plans and descriptions of the various culinary
inventions that have lately been put up in the great
kitchen of the house of the Royal Institution in Al-
bemarle Street, and also of those erected in Heriot's
Hospital at Edinburgh, in the autumn of the year
1800; but my stay in this country will be too short
for me to undertake so considerable a work at this
time. I am happy, however, that these new contriv-
ances, some of which have already been proved to be
very useful, are situated in places of public resort where
persons desirous of examining them may at all times
obtain free admission.

There are also several other new and useful contriv-
ances at the house of the Royal Institution, which I
should have had great pleasure in laying before the

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 479

public, had it been in my power, as I am persuaded
that correct accounts of them would have been very
acceptable to men of science, and to all those who
take pleasure in promoting new and useful mechan-
ical improvements.

I should, in particular, have been very glad to have
given plans and descriptions of all the various parts of
the steam-apparatus that has been put up for the pur-
pose of warming the great lecture-room. The boilers
for generating the steam are, if I am not much mis-
taken, well worthy of the attention of those who make
use of steam-engines ; and as the subject is of infinite
importance in this great manufacturing country, where
the numerous advantages which result from the use of
machinery are known and every day more and more
felt by individuals and by the public, I cannot resist the
strong inclination which I feel, to attempt in a few
words to give a general idea of this contrivance.
Those who wish to know more of the matter may get
all the information respecting it which they can want
by applying at the house of the Royal Institution.

A short Account of the BOILERS lately put up at the
House of the Royal Institution for GENERATING
STEAM for warming the Great Lecture-Room.

Over an oblong closed fire-place, furnished with
double doors, ash-pit register door, etc., are placed
two cylinders of copper, laid down horizontally by the
side of each other over the fire, each cylinder being
15 inches in diameter and 48 inches long. Imme-
diately over these two cylinders, and resting on them,
are placed two other cylinders of copper of the same
length and diameter ; and over these last, and resting

480 On the Construction of Kitchen

on them, are placed two other like cylinders, making
six cylinders in the whole, all made of the same mate-
rial and being of the same dimensions.

The fire-place being situated under the hither ends
of the two lower cylinders, the flame runs along under
them to their farther ends, where it passes upwards
and comes forward between the upper sides of the two
lower cylinders, and the lower sides of the two cylin-
ders immediately above them. Being arrived at the
front wall of the brick-work, it there rises up again, and
then passes along horizontally between the two middle
cylinders and the two upper cylinders, till it comes to
the back wall ; and, passing up by the farther ends of
the upper cylinders, it comes forwards horizontally, for
the last time, in an arch or vault of brick-work which
covers the two upper cylinders. Being arrived once
more at the front wall of the brick-work, it there enters
a canal (furnished with a good damper) by which it
goes off into a neighbouring chimney.

These cylinders are confined in their places by being
placed in pairs, over each other, between two parallel
vertical walls, which are built just so far asunder as to
admit two cylinders, placed horizontally by the sides of
each other ; and the flame is prevented from finding its
way upwards between the two cylinders which lie by
the sides of each other, or between the outsides of those
cylinders and the sides of the vertical walls with which
they are in contact, by filling up the joining between
them with good clay, mixed with small pieces of fire-
bricks.

The farther ends of all the cylinders are closed up,
and all the tubes which are necessary for the admission
of water and for the passage of the steam are fixed to

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 481

a circular plate of metal, which closes (by means of
flanges and screws) the front ends of the cylinders.

In consequence of this particular arrangement it will
be perfectly easy to make all the cylinders of cast iron,
even when these boilers are destined for steam-engines
of the largest dimensions. The number of sets of
cylindrical boilers, which in each case it will be neces-
sary to put up, must be determined by the size of the
cylinders and by the quantity of steam that will be
wanted. Six cylindrical boilers put up in a separate
mass of brick-work, in the manner above described, I
call one set.

It will always be found to be very advantageous to
have at least three or four sets of cylindrical boilers to
each steam-engine, instead of having one set of larger
cylinders ; and this not only on account of the wear
and tear of small fire-places being incomparably less
expensive than in those which are large, but also on
account of the economy of fuel which will be derived
from that arrangement, and the great convenience that
will be found to result from the use of small boilers,
which may at any time be heated and made to boil in
a very few minutes ; and from the advantage of being
able at all times to regulate the number of sets of
boilers in use to the load on the engine.

It is quite impossible to make a small fire in a large
fire-place without a great loss of heat ; but, by having
a number of small separate fire-places, an engine may
be made to work with a light load with almost as small
a proportion of fuel as when it is made to perform its
full work. But to return to our cylindrical boilers.

The two lower cylinders, and those two which lie
immediately over them, being destined for the genera-

482 On the Construction of Kitchen

tion of steam, are kept constantly about half full of
water, which water they receive, already hot, from the
two upper cylinders, in which last the water should
never boil.

These upper cylinders communicate, by an open
pipe, with a reservoir of water, which is situated several
feet above them ; consequently, as fast as they furnish
water to the four cylinders which lie below them, that
water so furnished is immediately replaced by water
which comes from the reservoir above.

As the pipe which brings this water from the reser-
voir enters the cylinders some considerable distance
below their centres, and as the pipes which convey the
water from them to the cylinders below are fixed in
their centres, as cold .water is heavier than warm water,
it is evident that the water which enters them cold
from the reservoir will take its place at the lower parts
t)f these cylinders, while only the lighter hot water will
be furnished to the cylindrical boilers below.

The method of regulating the admission of water
into the boilers below, where the steam is generated, is
so well known that it would be superfluous to give a
particular account of it.

In the set of boilers that has been put up at the
house of the Royal Institution, the open ends of all the
cylinders are on one side ; that is to say, they all come
through the front wall of the brick-work. This arrange-
ment was rendered necessary in that particular case
by local circumstances : it would, however, have been
better if only the lower and upper pairs of cylinders had
come through the front wall, and the open ends of the
middle pair had passed through the back wall ; for
in that case it would have been easier to provide a

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 483

passage for the flame round the ends of the middle
cylinders.

One evident advantage that will be derived from
constructing steam-engine boilers on the principles here
recommended is their superior strength to resist the
efforts of the steam, which will render it possible to
use very thin sheet copper or sheet iron in construct-
ing them, when they are made of those materials.
Another advantage will be the great facility of remov-
ing and repairing any of the cylinders which may
happen to leak, or which may be found to be damaged
or worn out. When several sets of cylinders are put
up for the same engine (which I would always recom-
mend, even for engines of the smallest size), any of these
occasional repairs may be made without stopping the
engine.

If these cylindrical steam boilers should be found
to be useful for steam-engines, they cannot fail to be
equally so for generating steam for heating dyers' cop-
pers by means of steam, for bleaching by means of
steam, and, in general, for every purpose where steam
is wanted in large quantities.

They must, I think, be peculiarly well adapted for
dyers ; for, as water less hot than boiling water is fre-
quently wanted by them in the course of their business,
the upper cylinders will at all times afford a plentiful
supply of warm water, which may, without the smallest
inconvenience, be drawn off whenever it is wanted.

To prevent in the most effectual manner the loss
of heat which is occasioned by the passage of steam
through the safety-valve, that steam which so escapes
out of the boiler may be carried off in a tube provided
for that purpose, and conducted into the upper cylin-

484 On the Construction of Kitchen

ders or into the reservoir which feeds them. In doing
this, care must be taken to cause the steam to descend
perpendicularly, from the height of eight or ten feet,
before it enters the water where it is intended that it
should be condensed ; and the end of the tube through
which the steam descends and enters the water should
be plunged to a certain depth below the surface of the
water.

I shall finish this chapter and conclude this Essay by
giving a short description of two very simple contriv-
ances, which have been put in practice at the house of
the Royal Institution, and which have been found to be
very useful. The one is a contrivance for preventing
most effectually the bad effects of the alternate expan-
sion and contraction- by heat and cold of the metallic
tubes which are used in conveying steam to a consider-
able distance ; and the other is a substitute for safety-
valves in an apparatus for heating rooms by means of
steam.

Of the Means that may be used for preventing metallic
Steam-tubes, of considerable Length, from being in-
jured by the alternate Expansion and Contraction of
the Metal by the different Degrees of Heat and Cold
to which those Tubes are occasionally exposed.

We will suppose the tube in question to be of copper,
and eight inches in diameter (which is the size of that
used for warming the great lecture-room at the Royal
Institution). Let this tube be made in lengths of ten
feet; and instead of joining the ends of these tubes
together immediately, to form one long tube, let a very
short tube or cylinder, of only one or two inches in
length and 24 inches in diameter, closed at each end

Fire-places and Kitctien Utensils. 485

with a flat circular plate of sheet copper, like the head
of a drum, be interposed between their joinings. These
two circular sheets of copper, which form two ends of
this very short cylinder, must be perforated in their
centres with holes 8 inches in diameter, to give a pas-
sage to the steam ; and the ends of the tubes must be
firmly fastened to them by means of flanges and rivets.
The following figure, which represents an outline of
a portion of a steam-tube constructed in this manner,
will give a clear idea of this contrivance : —

Fig. 94.

( IK ii

a, b, are portions of two of the tubes which are united
together by means of the short flat cylinder c.

Now if we suppose one of these tubes (10 feet long)
to be immovably fixed in the middle of its length to
a beam of wood or to a solid wall, the increase or dimi-
nution of the length of each half of it — arising from its
being occasionally heated to the temperature of boiling
water by steam, or cooled to the mean temperature of
the air of the atmosphere, — being free will cause its two
ends to push inwards or to draw outwards the two flat
ends of the two neighbouring short cylinders to which
they are attached; and, as these short cylinders are
24 inches in diameter, while the tube is only 8 inches
in diameter, the elasticity of the large circular thin

486

On the Construction of Kitchen

plates of metal will allow it to be pressed inwards or
drawn outwards without injury, much more than will
be necessary in order to give room for the expansions
and contractions of the tubes.

Hence it appears that, by this simple contrivance,
steam may be conveyed to any distance, however great,
in closed metallic tubes, without any danger of injury
to the tubes from the expansions and contractions of
the metal.

A short Description of a Contrivance which serves in-
stead of Safety-valves for a Steam Apparatus, which
is used for heating the Great Lecture-Room at the
House of the Royal Institution.

The following figure, which represents a vertical
section of this contrivance, will give a clear idea of it,
and of the manner in which it acts : —

Fig- 95-

a and b are two cylinders of copper, 6 inches in diame-
ter and 6 inches in length, placed in an erect position.
The cylinder a is closed both above and below; the
cylinder b is closed below, but is open above.

Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 487

The semi-circular tube d, which is represented filled
with water, serves to connect the two cylinders to-
gether.

By the tube c, the water, which results from the con-
densation of the steam in the steam-tubes which warm
the room, returns to the reservoir which feeds the
boiler. This water, after falling into the cylinder a,
passes through the semi-circular tube d into the cyl-
inder b, and then goes off from that cylinder, and is
conveyed, still warm, to the reservoir, by the tube e.

This simple apparatus serves as a safety-valve in the
following manner: When the steam in the steam-tubes
is redundant, it descends through the tube c, and
forcing the water out of the semi-circular tube d into
the cylinder b, it follows it through that tube, and,
escapes into the open air through the open end of that
cylinder. When the strength of the steam is suffi-
ciently diminished, a small quantity of water, still
remaining in the lower part of the cylinder b, returns
back into the tube d, and cuts off the communication
between the external air and the inside of the steam-
tubes.

When, in consequence of the fire under the boiler
being extinguished or being much diminished, a vac-
uum begins to be formed in the steam-tubes, the
external air, pressing against the surface of the small
quantity of water remaining in the lower part of the
cylinder b, forces it through the semi-circular tube d
into the cylinder a, and following it into that cylinder
opens for itself a passage into the steam-tubes, and pre-
vents their being crushed by the pressure of the atmos-
phere, on the condensation of the steam.

When the fire is gone out, and the whole apparatus

488 On the Construction of Kitchen Fire-places, etc,

becomes cold, the steam-tubes will be entirely filled
with air.

When, on lighting the fire again, fresh steam is gen-
erated, as this steam enters the large steam-tubes in
the highest or most elevated part of them, and as steam
is specifically lighter than atmospheric air, the steam
remains above the air which still occupies the steam-
tubes, and accumulating there presses this air down-
wards, and by degrees forces it out of the apparatus
through the same passage by which it entered; the
water in the semi-circular tube supplying the place of
a valve, or rather of two valves, in these different
operations.

[This paper is printed from the English edition of Rumford's Essays.
Vol. III., pp. 1-384.]

SUPPLEMENTARY OBSERVATIONS

RELATING TO

THE MANAGEMENT

FIRES IN CLOSED FIRE-PLACES.

OF THE MANAGEMENT OF FIRES IN
CLOSED FIRE-PLACES.

Necessity of keeping the Doors of closed Fire-places well
closed, and of regulating the Air that is admitted
into them. — Account of some Experiments which
showed in a striking Manner the very great Impor-
tance of those Precautions. — A Method is proposed for
preventing the Passage of cold Air into the large Fire-
places of Brewhouse Boilers, Distillers' Coppers,
Steam-Engine Boilers, etc., while they are feeding
with Coals. — Bad Consequences which result from
overloading closed Fire-places with Fuel. — Compu-
tations which show in a striking Manner the vast
Advantages that will be derived from the Use of proper
Care and Attention in the Management of Fire, and
in the Direction and Economy of the Heat which
results from the Combustion of Fuel.

THOUGH I have already mentioned, more than
once, the necessity of preventing the entrance of
air into a closed fire-place by any other passage than
by the register of the ash-pit door, and have strongly
recommended the keeping of the door of the fire-place
constantly closed ; yet, as I have since found that those
precautions are even of more importance than I had
imagined, I conceived that it might be useful to men-
tion the subject again, and give an account of the series

49 2 Of the Management of Fires

of experiments from the results of which I have
acquired new light in respect to it.

In fitting up a large shallow circular kitchen boiler
(one of those I put up in the kitchen of the house
formerly occupied by the Board of Agriculture), I made
an experiment which, though it appeared to me at the
time to have succeeded perfectly, led me into an error
that afterwards caused me a great deal of embarrass-
ment. I constructed the fire-place of the boiler of a
peculiar form for the express purpose of burning the
smoke; imagining that if I could succeed in that at-
tempt I should not only get more heat from any given
quantity of coals, but also that the narrow horizontal
canal that carried off the smoke from the fire-place to
the chimney would be much less liable to be choked
up by soot or dust. The fire-place was made rather
longer than usual ; and near the farther end of it there
was a thin piece of fire-stone, placed edgewise, which
run quite across it from side to side, a space being left
about z\ inches wide between the lower edge of this
stone and the bars of the grate, while the bottom of the
boiler reposed on its upper edge.

From this description it is evident that the flame of
the burning fuel, after rising up and striking against
that part of the bottom of the boiler which was situated
over the hither part of the fire-place, must necessarily
pass under the lower edge of the stone just mentioned,
in order to get into the canal leading to the chimney ;
and I fancied that, by taking care to keep that narrow
passage constantly occupied by red-hot coals, the smoke
being forced to pass through between them would nec-
essarily take fire and burn. This actually happened;
and, when I left a small opening in the door of the fire-

in closed Fire-places. 493

place to give admittance to a little fresh air to facilitate
and excite the combustion, the flame became so exceed-
ingly vivid and clear that I promised myself great
advantages from this new arrangement.

Being soon after engaged in putting up a large
square boiler in the kitchen of the Foundling Hospital,
I there introduced the same contrivance ; but how
great was my surprise on finding that, notwithstanding
the extreme vivacity of the fire, the contents of the
boiler could not be brought to boil in less time than
five hours! The fire-place, it is true, was small, and
the brick-work was new and wet ; but I found that the
quantity of coals consumed was such that, had there
been no essential fault in the construction of the fire-
place, nor in the management of the fire, the contents
of the boiler ought, notwithstanding these unfavourable
circumstances, to have boiled in less than one third
part of the time that had been found necessary to bring
it into a state of ebullition.

Having wasted two or three days in attempting to
remedy the defects of this fire-place, without changing
entirely the principles of its construction; concealing
my disappointment from those who it was necessary
should have confidence in my skill, by representing to
them all that had been done as being a mere exper-
iment, I pulled down the work to the foundation, and
caused it to be rebuilt on principles which I knew
could not fail to succeed, and which did succeed to
the utmost of my expectations.

Though I ruminated often on this disappointment, I
did not find out the real cause of my ill success for some
months. This discovery was, however, at length made,
and in such a manner as to leave no room for doubt.

494 Of the Management of Fires

Having, as an experiment, constructed in the kitchen
of the Military Academy at Munich an apparatus for
the performance of all the different processes of cook-
ery, and to serve occasionally for warming a room with
one and the same fire, thinking that the principles of
the invention might be employed with advantage in
the construction of cottage fire-places, on my return to
this country I made the experiment at my lodgings in
Brompton Row, Knightsbridge ; and, desirous of accom-
modating the contrivance to what I think may be
called a prejudice of Englishmen, I contrived the
machinery in such a manner as to render the fire
visible.

A small low grate was fixed in the middle of a large
open kitchen fire-place-, and on each side of it were fixed
in brick-work two Dutch ovens, one above the other,
the bottom of the lower oven on each side being nearly
on a level with the top of the grate ; and, as each of the
ovens was surrounded by flues, I had Kopes that by
causing the flame and smoke of the open fire to incline
downwards and enter a horizontal canal, situated just
behind the fire, and there to separate to the right and
left and circulate under the iron bottoms of the ovens,
they would by that means be sufficiently heated to
bake or to boil; and, even if the two upper ovens
should not be found to be sufficiently heated to perform
those processes of cookery, I thought, by leaving their
doors open, they might at least be very- useful,
occasionally for warming the room, acting in the
manner of a German stove. But the experiment was
far from succeeding as I expected.

The current of flame and smoke which arose from
the open fire was, without difficulty, made to bend its

in closed Fire-places. 495

course downwards into the canal destined to receive it,
and to circulate in the flues of the ovens ; but, to my
astonishment, I found that the ovens, instead of being
heated, were barely warmed. An accident, however,
very fortunately for me, discovered to me the real cause
of the ill success of the experiment. Throwing a piece
of paper on the top of the coals that were burning in
the grate, in order to see if the whole of the large
flame which I knew the paper must produce would be
drawn downwards into the horizontal opening of the
canal, situated behind the back of the grate, I was
surprised to find that this flame was not only drawn
into this opening, but that it appeared to be violently
driven downwards to the very bottom of the canal.

In short, every appearance indicated that there was
a very strong vertical wind that was continually blow-
ing directly downwards into the opening of the canal ;
and it immediately occurred to me that, as this wind
consisted of a stream of cold air, this air must neces-
sarily cool the ovens almost as fast as the flame heated
them ; and I was no longer surprised at the ill success
of my experiment.

On considering the subject with attention, I saw how
impossible it must be for the current of hot vapour,
flame, and smoke that rises from burning fuel, to be
made to pass off horizontally, or to deflect considerably
from its direct ascension in contact with the cold air of
the atmosphere, without drawing after it a great deal of
that cold air; and I now saw plainly why so much time
and fuel were required to heat the boiler in the kitchen
of the Foundling Hospital, in the experiments that
were made with its first fire-place.

The cold air which entered the fire-place at its door,

496 Of the Management of Fires

and passing over the surface of the burning fuel
entered the flues of the boiler with the flame, cooled
the bottom of the boiler almost as fast as the flame
heated it.

The waste of heat that is occasioned precisely in
this manner in the fire-places of steam-engines, brewers'
coppers, distillers' coppers, etc., must be very great in-
deed. To be convinced of this fact, nothing more is
necessary than to see how very imperfectly the entrance
into one of these fire-places is closed by its single door,
ill fitted to its frame ; what a length of time the door is
left wide open while the fire is stirring or fresh coals are
putting into the fire-place ; and what an impetuous tor-
rent of cold air rushes into the fire-place on those
occasions. j*

As the cold air that comes into the fire-place in this
manner, and passes over the burning coals, has very
little to do in promoting the combustion of the fuel,
and must necessarily be heated very hot in passing
through the fire-place and through the whole length
of the flues of the boiler, it is easy to see what an
immense quantity of heat this air must steal and carry
off into the atmosphere in its escape up the chimney.

To remedy this evil, the doors of all closed fire-
places should be double, and they should be fitted to
their frames with the greatest nicety, which may easily
be done by making them shut against the front edge
of their frames, instead of being fitted into them or into
grooves made, to receive them ; and, when the fire is
burning, these doors should be opened as seldom as
possible and for as short a time as possible. I have
already mentioned the necessity of these precautions in
my sixth Essay, but they are of so much importance

in closed Fire-places. 497

that they can hardly be too often recommended, nor
can too much pains be taken to show why they are so
necessary.

In all cases where a fire-place is very large, and where,
in consequence of the large quantity of coals consumed
in it, the fire-place door is necessarily kept open a great
deal, I would earnestly recommend the adoption of a
contrivance which I think could not fail to turn out
a complete remedy for the evil we have been describ-
ing ; viz., the entrance of a torrent of cold air into the
fire-place through its door-way.

The contrivance is this: to construct the floor or
pavement of the area before the fire-place door in such
a manner as to cut off all direct communication, with-
out the fire-place in front of it, between the ash-pit and
the fire-place .door-way ; and, when this is done, to build
a porch, well closed above and on every side, imme-
diately before the fire-place door, and in such a manner
that the fire-place door may open into it.

This porch must have a door belonging to it, sit-
uated on the side opposite to the fire-place door, which
door (that belonging to the porch) must open outwards,
and must fit its door-frame with considerable nicety.
There must also be a glass window either in this door
or over it, or on one side of it, or in one of the side
walls of the porch ; and there must be sufficient room
in the porch to allow of a certain provision of coals
being lodged there and kept ready for use.

When fresh coals are to be thrown into the fire-
place (as also when the door of the fire-place is to be
opened for the purpose of stirring the fire, or for any
other purpose), the person who is charged with the care
of the fire enters the porch, and then, carefully shutting

VOL. III. 32

Of the Management of Fires

the door of the porch after him, he opens the fire-place
door.

As no air can get into the porch from without, its
door being closed, none can pass through it into the
fire-place, and the fire-place door may be left open
without the smallest inconvenience; and the person
who tends the fire may take up as much time as he
pleases in stirring it or feeding it with fresh fuel, for
little or no derangement of the fire or loss of heat will
result from these operations. The fire will continue
to burn nearly in the same manner as it did before the
fire-place door was opened ; and those immense clouds
of dense smoke which, to the annoyance of the whole
neighbourhood, are now thrown out of the chimneys of
all great breweries, distilleries, steam-engines, etc., as
often as they are fed with fresh coals, will no longer
make their appearance.

When these operations are finished, and the fire-
place door is again closed, the door of the porch may
be opened, and the provision of coals kept in the porch
for immediate use may be again completed.

If the flame from the fire-place should be found to
have any tendency to come into the porch, this may
be easily checked by leaving a very small hole in the
door of the porch for the admission of a small quantity
of air, just enough to prevent this accident. This small
hole might be furnished with a register.

But it is not merely through the opening by which
the fuel is introduced that cold air furtively finds its
way into closed fire-places. It frequently enters in
much too large quantities by the ash-pit door-way, and,
rushing up between the bars of the grate and mixing
with the flame, serves to diminish instead of increasing

in closed Fire-places. 499

the heat applied to the bottom of the boiler ; and this
never fails to happen when a small fire is made in a
large fire-place, or when a part of the grate happens not
to be covered with burning fuel, especially when there
is no register to the ash-pit door.

It should be remembered that whenever more air
enters a closed fire-place than is actually decomposed
by the burning fuel, all that superabundant air not only
is of no service whatever, but being itself heated at the
expense of the fire, and going off hot by the chimney,
occasions the loss of a quantity of heat that might have
been usefully employed.

Ash-pit doors should always be furnished with reg-
isters of whatever size the fire-place may be, for they
are always indispensably necessary to the good man-
agement of a fire; and, where small fires are occa-
sionally made in large closed fire-places, the ascent of
air through that part of the grate that is not covered
with burning fuel should be prevented by sliding an
iron plate under the bars of the grate, or by some other
contrivance equally effectual.

If the closed fire-places of boilers, great and small,
were properly constructed, and if due care were taken
to introduce in a proper manner and to regulate the
quantity of the air that is necessary to the perfect com-
bustion of the fuel, their grates might be made consid-
erably narrower than they now are, and the bottoms of
their boilers might be placed at a greater height above
them, from which arrangement several advantages would
be derived ; but as long as so little care is taken to keep
the door of the fire-place well closed, and to prevent too
much air from coming up through the grate by the
openings between its bars, the bottom of the boiler

500 Of the Management of Fires

must be placed very near the surface of the burning
coals, otherwise so much more cold air than is wanted
will find its way into the fire-place and mix with the
flame that the bottom of the boiler cannot fail to be
sensibly cooled by it.

When a boiler is properly set, if a fire of a moderate
size that burns well does not heat it in a reasonable
time, the fault must necessarily lie in the bad manage-
ment of the doors and registers of the fire-place ; for,
as the heat required to heat the boiler is a certain
quantity, which cannot vary, if the boiler is not found
to be heated as fast as it ought to be by the quantity
of fuel consumed, a part of the heat generated must
necessarily go to heat something else ; and there is
nothing at hand that can take it, except it be the cold
air of the atmosphere, which, whenever it is permitted
to enter a fire-place in an improper manner or in too
large quantities, never fails to rob it of a great deal of
heat, which it takes with it up the chimney, as has
already been observed.

If the door by which the fuel is introduced into the
closed fire-place of a kitchen boiler is not kept con-
stantly closed, it is quite impossible that a well-con-
structed fire-place can answer. With such neglectful
management, a bad fire-place is certainly preferable to
a good one ; for, when an enormous quantity of fuel is
consumed under a boiler, some part of it must neces-
sarily find its way into it, even if, instead of being set in
brick-work, it were suspended over the fire in the open
air; but, when a fire-place is made no larger than is
necessary in order to heat the boiler in a proper time
when the door of the fire-place is kept closed, it is not
surprising that the boiler should be much slower in

in closed Fire-places. 501

acquiring heat when a stream of cold air is permitted
to strike against its bottom and blow all the flame and
hot smoke out of its flues into the chimney.

It would be just as unreasonable to object to the fire-
places I have recommended, on account of the trouble
of keeping them closed, as it would be to object to a
scheme for warming a dwelling-house merely because
it required that the street door should not be left open.
The cases are exactly similar ; and, if insisting on the
attention of servants in the one case is not unreason-
able, it cannot be so in the other.

There was a time, no doubt (when the doors of rooms
first came in fashion), that the trouble they occasioned
to servants was considered as a hardship and severity
in exacting attention to the proper management of them
as a grievance ; but all improvements are progressive, and
we may hope that a time will come when it will be con-
sidered as careless and slovenly to leave open the door
of a closed fire-place. In the mean time, it is my duty
to declare, in the most serious and public manner, that
those who have not influence enough with their ser-
vants to secure due attention being paid to this impor-
tant point, would do wisely not to attempt to introduce
the improvements in closed fire-places which I have
recommended. And it is not sufficient merely to be
attentive to the shutting of the fire-place door. Care
must be taken also to manage properly the register of
the ash-pit door; otherwise, if it be left too much opened,
a great deal too much cold air will find its way into the
fire-place between the bars of the grate.

When a closed fire-place is properly constructed, it
is hardly to be believed how small a passage is suffi-
cient to admit as much air as is necessary or useful to
maintain the combustion of the fuel.

502 Of the Management of Fires

A fault which is often committed in the management
of the closed fire-places I have recommended is the
overloading them with fuel. This mistake has several
bad consequences, and among them there is one which
would not naturally be expected. It prolongs the kin-
dling of the fire, and very frequently so much so as to
prolong the heating of the boiler, notwithstanding the
fierceness of the fire when the fuel is all inflamed.

Great care should at all times be taken not to over-
charge a fire-place with fuel, but more especially when
the fire is first kindled and the fire-place and every
thing about it is cold. It should be remembered that
a great deal of heat is necessary to warm the fuel itself,
and bring it to that degree of heat which it must have
in order to its being capable of taking fire ; and, as long
as there remains any cold fuel in the fire-place to be
heated, very little heat will reach the bottom of the
boiler.

All the money that is expended in the purchase of
wood to kindle coal fires is money well laid out ; and
it is by no means good economy to be sparing of wood
in kindling such fires. In many cases it would, I am
convinced, be cheaper to burn wood than coals, even
in London, especially in the closed fire-places of small
kitchen boilers and stewpans, where a fire is wanted but
for a short time. This proposal to burn wood instead
of coals or charcoal has already been made more than
once ; and the more I have considered the subject, the
more I am convinced that the former would turn out
to be the cheapest fuel.

A great deal of fuel is consumed in this country for
boiling water to make tea. I was curious to know how
low it would be possible to reduce that expense, and

in closed Fire-places. 503

ascertained that point by the following experiments
and computations.

I supposed a small family, consisting of two persons,
to drink tea twice every day (morning and evening)
during one whole year, and that 2 pints of water, at the
temperature of 55° (the mean annual temperature of
the atmosphere in Great Britain), was heated and made
to boil every time tea was made.

I found on inquiry that the most costly fire-wood that
is sold in London, — dry beech in billets, — at the high-
est price it is ever sold at, cost one farthing per lb.,
avoirdupois weight; that is, at the rate of twopence
per billet, weighing at an average 8 Ibs. By whole-
sale, these billets are sold in London at one penny half-
penny each.

I had some of these billets sawed into lengths of
about 5 inches, and then split into small pieces (about
the size of the end of one's little finger), and bound up
with a pack-thread into little small bundles weighing
about 4 or 5 ounces each. In the middle of each
bundle there were a few smaller splinters and a very
small piece of paper, that the bundle might easily be
set on fire with a candle or with a common match.

On using the small portable furnace represented in
the Fig. 63, and described in Chapter XI. of the tenth
Essay, page 414, and the small tin tea-kettles repre-
sented in the Fig. 68, in that Essay, I found by an
experiment, which was repeated several times, that I
could boil 2 pints of water with a bundle of wood
weighing 4 ounces.

Hence it appears that the daily consumption of
wood in boiling water for tea for two persons would
be 8 ounces, or half a pound weight ; consequently, for

504 Of the Management of Fires.

one year, or 365 days, 182! Ibs. would be required, and
that quantity, at i farthing the pound, would cost 182^
farthings = 45! pence, or three shillings and ninepence
half-penny and half a farthing.

Were it possible to heat so small a quantity of water
with the consumption of the same proportion of fire-
wood as was found to be sufficient for heating water
in some of the experiments, of which an account is given
in the sixth Essay, the annual expense for fire-wood, for
boiling water for making tea for two persons twice a
day, would amount to no more than 57 Ibs. weight,
which, at the London price of this wood, one farthing
in the pound, would cost 57 farthings, or one shilling
and twopence farthing.

It is by computations of this sort, founded on the
results of unexceptionable experiments, that we are
enabled to appreciate the vast saving to individuals
and to the public that would result from proper atten-
tion being paid to the management of fire and to the
economy of heat.

[This paper is printed from the English edition of Rumford's Essays,
Vol. III., pp. 455-47I-]

END OF VOL. III.

Cambridge: Press of John Wilson & Son.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES

THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
This book is DUE on the last date stamped bt

DEC l ~ '-60

2 ?§62

CWfege
Ubrary

1967

•utor Man

?isir

£ JAN 3

RETD LD-URL

DEC 15 1983 ,

REFD LD-imt

APR 5 1984

1158009060202